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THE PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/priestataltarhisOOgraf 


THE PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


AN HISTORICAL, LITURGICAL AND DEVOTIONAL 
EXPLANATION OF THE MASS ACCORDING sco 
TO THE ROMAN MISSAL <n Mie 





BY r 
DOM ERNEST’GRAF, O.8.B. 


NEW YORK 
JOSEPH F. WAGNER, Inc. 
Lonpon: B. HERDER 


PRICE, BOUND IN CLOTH, NET, $2.50 


Cum opus cui titulus “The Priest at the Altar’ a R. P. D. 
Ernesto Graf Monacho Buckfastriensi conscriptum, Censor a Nobis 
deputatus rite recognoverit, nihilque contra fidem vel mores in eo 
deprehenderit, quantum ad Nos attinet, imprimi  permittimus. 
Datum Sublaci, ex Asceterio S. Specus, die 27 Julii 1926. 


D. BENEDICTUS GARIADOR, O.S.B. 
Ab. Gen. 


D. HIERONYMUS HAULER, OS.B. 
Cons. a Secr. 
Hihil @bstat: 
ARTHUR J. SCANLAN, S.T.D. 
Censor Librorum 
Snprimatur: 


% PATRICK CARDINAL HAYES 
Archbishop of New York 


New York, September 17, 1926 


CopyRIGHT, 1926, BY JosepH F. WacNER, New York 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


PREFACE 


HE substance of this book first appeared in the 
pages of The Homiletic and Pastoral Review 
in 1922 and 1923. When the publishers of that 
valuable Monthly decided to give his contributions 
a more permanent form, the present writer gladly 
concurred. His purpose has been a strictly practical 
one. He is conscious that, had such been his inten- 
tion, he would yet. have lacked the ability to con- 
tribute, even in a small way, to our actual knowledge 
of liturgical origins. What scholarship there is in 
these unpretentious pages, serves merely as a back- 
ground for piety. Devotion must have a solid basis, 
or else it is apt to evaporate like any other emotion. 
Though these notes have been compiled, in the first 
instance, for the benefit of priests, others than priests 
will perhaps find here, within a small compass, in- 
formation that is available only in larger works, or 
in books less accessible. Should these pages help 
even one priest during the priceless half hour of his 
daily Mass, the writer would deem himself amply 
rewarded for his efforts. ‘To his Fathers and 
Brethren in the priesthood he reverently dedicates 
his little book. 


Buckfast Abbey, Devon. 


hi Oi 
oy oh 


WY 
Coal | 

Ie ey 

YY SO a es 

YD Gan 


Side RA ey 


i 





CONTENTS 


PaGE 
SP HEEREATURGY i oe Wied eterna pe Ginter gn) h 6 
DSEVURGICALLV ESTMENTS (ce oir silty me Mie ie kg 
INTROIBO AD ALTARE DEI : 37 
JupicA ME AND THE CONFITEOR. . . 49 
SHE GINTROLT Ooh) duane Me a Re GN Mi Re RED 
Kyrig ELEISON. . : Been wae OO 
Goria IN EXCELsis De 66 
‘THE COLLECT AND ITs CONCLUSION 70 
THE EPISTLE AND Deo GRATIAS . 82 
THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE go 
‘THE GOSPEL AND THE HOMILY oR SERMON. 106 
METRO REDOMS Ty ole ; i i 117 
THE OFFERTORY 126 
FROM THE PREFACE TO THE See 159 
THE CANON 171 
THE CONSECRATION. 196 
THE PRAYERS AFTER THE ean A e 209 
THE MEMENTO OF THE DEAD 229 
Nogpis QuOQUE PECCATORIBUS 4) 238 
From THE Pater NOSTER TO THE nee 
PANIS Bie Py 
FROM THE Reniee Der TO THE panies 
Non Sum DicNnus NN Us 40% 
Tur CoMMUNION OF THE Rein Ween 70 
CONCLUSION OF THE Mass . 288 
THANKSGIVING AFTER Mass . 301 


‘APPENDIX: THE ORDINARY OF THE Mass 
V 





THE PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 





CHAPTER [ 
The Liturgy 
‘THE Liturgy of the Catholic Church is no mere 


external pageant, vaguely satisfying the emo- 
tional and religious instincts of the human heart. 
There is indeed a vast amount of outward pomp and 
display in the Church’s worship, but these externals 
are only the symbols of interior acts by which we 
honor and glorify the King of the universe. Or, to 
vary the metaphor, if rites and ceremonies, music 
and vestments are the body, faith, hope, and charity 
—the worship and praise of mind and heart—con- 
stitute the soul of the Liturgy. 
The word Liturgy signifies a holy, a divine work, 
a service of God—not merely personal, private, and 
based on the best instincts of our rational nature, 
but-——organized by the Church and sanctioned by 
Christ, who inspired His Church to institute a solemn 
ceremonial of worship, in the same way as God had 
given a ritual or liturgical code to the Israelites of 
old. We find the word Liturgy in the inspired books 
of the New Testament, where any act performed in 
the discharge of their official duties by those who are 
appointed to the service of God, is a liturgical act. 
In the New Testament, however, that term would 
3 


4 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


seem to be peculiarly reserved to designate the rites 
which accompany the Eucharistic Sacrifice. It is thus 
that we are to understand the text of the Acts of 
the Apostles, when they describe the call of Paul and 
Barnabas: “‘As they were ministering to the Lord? 
and fasting, the Holy Ghost said to them: Separate 
me Saul and Barnabas, for the work whereunto | 
have taken them.” 

This text is an obvious allusion to a definitely 
organized form of worship, because the same 
phraseology is used in Holy Scripture in connexion 
with the highly developed and divinely established 
services of the tabernacle of the Testament and the 
Temple of Jerusalem. 

The Church was never without a formal! Liturgy, 
however rudimentary we may conceive it to have 
been. ‘The symbolic actions which accompanied the 
Last Supper and the institution of the Sacrifice of 
the New Law, form the nucleus—the mother-cell, 
as it were—of all the subsequent additions and devel- 
opments which have made of the glorious ritual of 
the Mass the most sublime pageant that ever was, 
or ever shall be, outside heaven. 

Here it will not be without interest to consider 
what may be called the liturgical instinct of humanity, 
as it has worked itself out in those ancient races who, 
though they lived side by side with the people of 
Israel, were yet bereft of any definite knowledge of 


1The Greek word, which the Douai-Rheims Version translates 
as “ministering to the Lord,’ means literally “performing the 
liturgy.” 

2 Acts, xili. 2. 


THE LITURGY 5 


the true God. By far the most striking feature of 
all organized worship of the deity-—and there never 
was a people so barbarous as to be wholly without 
some such worship—is that it gravitates around a cen- 
tral notion of sacrifice. Both history and archeology 
bear witness to the universality of sacrificial practices 
in every age. A casual glance at the various religions 
(or rather superstitions), which have at different 
periods of history swayed the hearts, even more than 
the minds of men, will at first produce only a sense 
of bewildering diversity and contradiction. But, if 
we would arrive at some just estimate of the funda- 
mental ideas which underlie the choice of what one 
can only call parodies of a divine Liturgy, ‘“‘we must 
enquire whether the details of the different rituals 
present nothing but diversity, or whether there is 
any respect in which they show likeness or uniformity. 
There is one point in which they resemble one an- 
other; and, what is more, that point is the leading 
feature in all of them: they all center round sac- 
Rice 

If we bear in mind that all false religions are a 
deviation, or retrogression, from the primeval revela- 
tion made to man, we shall have no diffculty in 
accounting for this striking consensus of humanity 
in regard to sacrifice. Mankind began with a true, 
not a false religion, for ignorance, error, and idolatry 
are the consequence and punishment of sin. But, just 
as human nature is essentially one, and all men have 
ultimately a common standard by which they meas- 


3F, B. Jevons, The Idea of God in Early Religions, p. 63. 


6 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


ure right and wrong (to wit, their conscience), so 
did they preserve some few at least of the root ideas 
of all religion and organized worship. The idea of 
sacrifice is one of these root ideas. Wherever we 
find a people or race enjoying an appreciable measure 
of civilization, we also invariably find that the obla- 
tion of sacrifice to the deity forms the chief act of 
religion. With the growth and development of the 
tribe or people, the number and solemnity, the 
variety and significance of sacrificial offerings are 
likewise increased. Even the most primitive races 
will make offerings to the deity of the first fruits of 
all things. Anyone who is at all familiar with the 
classical writers of Greece and Rome, knows how 
sacrifices were offered on all manner of occasions: 
sacrifice marked a man’s coming into the world and 
his leaving it; nothing was bought or sold, no new 
enterprise was undertaken, no war declared, no 
treaty of peace or alliance entered upon, without the 
transaction being ratified, as it were, by the oblation 
of victims to the deity. These nations did not know 
the true and living God; yet would they call upon 
their gods and make them the witnesses of the 
transaction. We see a beautiful instance of this in 
the twelfth book of the neid, where the poet 
describes the sacred rites which marked the compact 
entered into between his hero (/¢neas) and the King 
of the Rutuli, Evander, and his son Turnus; 


Precedunt castris, puraque in veste sacerdos 
Setigert fetum suis, intonsamque bidentem 
Attulit, admovitque pecus flagraniibus aris. 


THE LITURGY 7 


Illi, ad surgentem conversi lumina solem, 
Dant fruges manibus salsas, et tempora ferro 
Summa notant pecudum, paterisque altaria libant.4 


Verily, pagans put to shame our “‘after-Christians,” 
who ignore God and enter upon alliances and con- 
clude treaties without asking His approval, blessing 
and sanction. 

With practical unanimity mankind looks upon sac- 
rifice as the chief act of religion or worship, and as 
the supreme manifestation of the sentiments of de- 
pendence, fear, gratitude and supplication which 
crowd in upon the human heart whenever it gives 
itself a chance to pause and reflect upon fundamental 
facts and truths. 

The universality of the idea of sacrifice is readily 
accounted for, when one remembers that it is neces- 
sarily a remnant of the primeval revelation which 
God gave to the father of the human race. The 
opening pages of the Bible, which are also the 
earliest authentic records of human history, show the 
oblation of sacrifices as part, and the chief part, of 
man’s worship of God. “And it came to pass after 
many days that Cain offered of the fruits of the earth 
gifts to the Lord. Abel also offered of the firstlings 
of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had 


4“Then to the hearth the white-robed priest 
Brings two-year sheep all richly fleeced 
And young of bristly swine; 
They turn them to the radiant east, 
With knives the victims’ foreheads score, 
Strew cakes of salted meal, and pour 
The sacrificial wine.” 


(Eneid, xii, 169 sqq. Conington’s translation.) 


8 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


respect to Abel, and to his offerings.” * No doubt, 
these sacrifices cannot be properly described as 
“liturgical” functions in the strict sense of the word, 
because they were rather in the nature of purely per- 
sonal acts of devotion. The idea, however, of honor- 
ing God by the oblation and destruction of the fruits 
of the earth, or those lower creatures which minister 
to man’s needs, has obviously been fully worked out 
in the minds of the sons of Adam. A little later we 
meet, for the first time in history, with an organized 
cult, for we read that “to Seth also was born a son, 
whom he called Enos: this man began to call upon 
the name of the Lord.” ° | 
Evidently the name of the Lord had been called 
upon by others prior to the time of Enos. What 
then is the meaning of the peculiar eulogy bestowed 
upon Enos? It seems natural to interpret it, as we 
interpret those other remarks of the inspired writer 
when he says, for instance, that Jubal was “‘the father 
of them that play upon the harp and the organs,” 
and that Tubalcain was ‘‘a hammerer and artificer 
in every work of brass andiron.”* Jubal and Tubal- 
cain and their fellows were the first artists and crafts- 
men, the originators and first inventors of the varied 
and ever-increasing devices which tend to make life 
not merely possible, but agreeable. In like manner, 
Enos must be looked upon as the first liturgist, that 
is, the first author of some form of organized, public 
and solemn rites and ceremonies by which the world, 


B Gen. 1¥.03,0 4. 
6 Gen aivuilit. 
7. Gen., iv. 21, 22. 


THE EITORGY 9 


as yet in its infancy, paid its debt of worship to the 
omnipotent Creator. 

It is likewise noteworthy that the priestly class is 
contemporary with more elaborate rituals. Here 
again man feels the need of one who would approach 
the Deity on his behalf, for he is aware that a special 
commission is required if a man is to act as mediator 
between God and his fellow-men, as well as a special 
holiness and consecration. The priest is essentially 
an ambassador, or representative, who deals with 
God in behalf of man. But his chief function and 
ultimate raison d’étre is the oblation of sacrifice. 

From the very start the arts also are made sub- 
servient to religion; in fact they owe their greatest 
development to religion. Wherever we find an 
organized ritual (and we find it everywhere), it is 
invariably accompanied by gestures, sacred dances, 
chants, and the use of a ceremonial vesture. In a 
word, the service of God is meant to be beautiful, 
because a true instinct of man makes him realize, 
even when he is in a state of retrogression and bar- 
barism, that all that is best and noblest must be made 
subservient to the worship of the Lord and Creator 
of all. 

The observance of certain sacred times and days 
is likewise an adjunct to divine worship. So universal 
is this observance that here also we find ourselves 
in presence of a survival of former times, a 
reminiscence of the example given to man by God 
Himself, who made the world in six days and rested 
upon the seventh from all the works He had per- 
formed, even though His work had entailed no exer- 


10 PRIEST AT: THE ALTAR 


tion, and He had no need of repose in order to repair 
an exhausted vitality. 

A profound thought underlies the setting apart of 
certain days as sacred, and days of religious repose. 
The working day is man’s day; the festival day, the 
day of rest, is God’s day. Sacrifice and sacred rest 
are correlative. That which is sacrificed to God is 
taken from among our possessions, is something de- 
liberately given up by man and presented to God. 
The holy day is a day on which man refrains from 
work—consequently from gain and_ profit—not 
chiefly for the sake of enjoying physical repose, but 
to honor God. Thus the holy day—the otium of 
the feast-day—is also in the nature of a sacrifice to 
the Divinity. We find these festive days and seasons 
among all peoples. The Greeks and Romans were 
strict observers of such days, and everybody knows 
how severe were the restrictions concerning the ob- 
servance of the sacred repose of the Sabbath. Virgil 
describes his happy countryman observing the repose 


of the holy day: 


Ipse dies agitat festos, fususque per herbam, 
Ignis ubi in medio, et socit cratera coronant, 
Te, libans, Lengze, vocat. . . .8 
Our remarks on natural or pagan liturgies—paro- 
dies or caricatures, as they often are, of the true 
worship of the living God in spirit and in truth—are 
justified by the authority of the earliest ecclesiastical 
writers. Thus, Tertullian goes so far as to use the 
word “sacrament” in connexion with the purifications 
8 Georgics, ii, 226: “He himself celebrates the festal days, and, 
stretched on the sward where the fire burns (on an altar) in the 


middle and his companions wreathe the bowl, invokes thee, Linzus, 
with libations.” 


THE LITURGY II 


(or lustrations) undergone by the votaries of 
Mithras and the mysterious sign imprinted upon 
their foreheads. In this way the devil uses the same 
material elements which Christ has deigned to choose 
as the outward symbols of His inward grace. The 
same great African writer attributes to the direct 
intervention of the evil one the institution of such 
rites or observances as have in themselves an element 
of truth and beauty, but which we prefer to look 
upon as manifestations of the religious instinct, often 
sadly misled, of the human heart. But let us read 
Tertullian: ‘The devil, in the mysteries of idols, 
rivalleth even the very things of the mysteries of 
God (ipsas res sacramentorum divinorum idolorum 
mysteriis emulatur). He too baptizes some, to wit, 
his own believing and faithful people; he promises 
a putting away of sin by washing, and, if I yet remem- 
ber aright, Mithras there seals his soldiers on their 
foreheads. He celebrates also the oblation of bread. 
: If we turn over in our minds the superstitions 
bf Nine Pompilius, if we consider his priestly 
offices, badges, and privileges, his sacrificial services, 
the instruments and vessels of the sacrifices them- 
selves, and the curious niceties of the expiations and 
vows, has not the devil manifestly imitated the strict- 
ness which is in the Jewish Law?” ® 

In his treatise on Baptism, the fiery African writes 
in the same strain: ‘“The nations [Gentiles! who are 
strangers to all understanding of spiritual powers, 
ascribe to their idols the imbuing of waters with the 
selfsame efhcacy [as baptismal water]. So they do, 
but they cheat themselves with waters which are 


9 De prescriptione hereticorum, xl. 


12 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


widowed [i.e., lacking the presence and virtue of the 
Holy Ghost]. . . . We recognize here also the zeal 
of the devil in rivalling the things of God, while we 
find him, too, practising baptism on his subjects. But 
what similarity is there? The unclean cleanses! the 
ruiner sets free! the damned absolves! He will, 
forsooth, destroy his own work by washing away 
the sins which he himself inspires! ‘These things 
have been set down by way of testimony against such 
as reject the faith; if they put no trust in the things 
of God, they trust in the spurious imitations of them, 
made by God’s rival.”’ ° 

The rites which Tertullian here describes, were 
much used in the religion of Mithras. Like other 
ecclesiastical writers and in agreement with the 
Fathers, he attributes their institution to the devil, 
‘‘the monkey of God,” who is for ever travestying the 
ways and works of God. However, even though the 
devil may have had a share in the institution of 
expiatory and other rites (and no doubt it was a 
large share), we may safely afirm that many of 
these symbolic actions are based upon the instinct of 
human nature, and were often remnants of better 
and purer traditions. One great and fundamental 
principle we must deduce from the foregoing ex- 
amples, namely, that the sacramental system and the 
symbolical ritual of the Church answer to the truest 
instincts of man, who can only see the spiritual and 
divine through sensible images. Hence we feel jus- 
tifed in concluding that, although He was eminently 
free in the choice of means by which to dispense His 


10 De baptismo, v. 


THE LITURGY 13 


gifts, our Lord adapted Himself most admirably to 
our nature when He instituted the Sacraments— 
visible symbols of an invisible grace, and its instru- 
mental, yet effective causes. 

In like manner, the Liturgy of the Church is such 
as man requires, for it answers to the necessity of 
the dual element which constitutes his nature, giving 
him visible, tangible, material symbols and tokens by 
which he can give vent to the aspirations of his 
immortal spirit. In this way the Liturgy of the 
Church, which is no mere human conceit but the 
result of divine inspiration and guidance, is yet an- 
other example of that supreme law which rules all 
God’s dealings with creation, namely, that even as 
He “reacheth from end to end mightily,” He like- 
wise “‘ordereth all things sweetly.” ™ 

Puritans, indeed, would have us worship in plain, 
whitewashed, barnlike buildings, practically without 
any of those outward observances which lend dignity 
to even ordinary human relationship and intercourse. 
It were mere sophistry to quote in support of so un- 
natural a theory the words of Christ to the woman 
of Samaria: ‘“The hour cometh, and now is, when 
the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and 
in truth.” *? Here there is no anticipated condemna- 
tion of the glories of our ritual, but only a compari- 
son between the material observances of the Old Law 
and the reality of the New Law, of which the 
former were the shadows. ‘These things were “a 
parable of the time present: according to which gifts 


11 Wisdom, viii. 1. 
12 John, iv. 23. 


14 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


and sacrifices are offered, which can not, as to the 
conscience, make him perfect that serveth only in 
meats and drinks and divers washings. .. .”* 

Religion, being a supernatural thing, can never be 
unnatural or against the best instincts of nature, any 
more than there can ever be opposition between faith 
and true science. Both nature and religion are of 
God. We but obey the dictates of what is best in 
us, when we surround the public worship of the 
Author of nature with all the splendors that this 
earth can lend it. 

It is scarcely necessary to point out that by the 
beauty of our Liturgy we do not seek to give to God 
anything that He stands in need of. His glory is 
supreme, for He fully knows, from before all ages, 
His infinite perfections in His Word and loves and 
enjoys them in the Holy Ghost. And, outside the 
divine circle, the Angels in their myriads stand 
around His throne and the echo of their undying 
Sanctus rolls for ever through the halls of eternity. 

The external pomp of our worship is meant to 
impress the mind and imagination of man. The 
external glory of God consists in this, that He is 
known, loved and adored, not only by each human 
unit, but by the whole human family. Now, when 
many are gathered together, for whatever purpose 
it may be, each person is the more impressed with 
a sense of the importance of the object by the very 
reason that there are many brought together by the 
same motive or interest. Corporate and public wor- 
ship is, in itself, an act of wonderful beauty and 


18 Heb., ix. 9, x0. 


THE LITURGY 15 


dignity. We all know the mysterious influence—so 
subtle, yet so irresistible—of the spirit of a crowd. 
He must be a strong man who is not swept off his 
feet by the passions of an excited crowd in which he 
happens to be lost. But, when many are gathered 
together in the Lord’s name, there is at work much 
more than the mere spirit of the crowd, for even He 
Himself is then in our midst, according to the 
promise of the Gospel. 

What could be more in accordance with right 
reason and sound instinct than that all the resources 
of the arts should be drawn upon to lend dignity and 
impressiveness to what is most sublime in itself? One 
of the primeval instincts of man is the wearing of 
a distinctive dress on certain solemn occasions. 
Again, those who held public offices, or discharged 
certain duties in the name and by appointment of 
the community, wore a special dress or peculiar orna- 
ments, symbolical of their office. So it is not a matter 
for surprise that the Church, who always cherishes 
all that is true and good and beautiful, should have 
bestowed a special apparel upon her ministers, deck- 
ing them with vestments and ornaments calculated to 
enhance the sacredness of the rites and ceremonies 
of the Liturgy: “All the beauty of the king’s 
daughter is within, in golden borders, clothed round 
about with varieties.” 

The ceremonial vestments of the Church are sym- | 
bolical. We may be permitted to quote here a very 
true saying of the Philosopher of Chelsea: “All 
visible things,” says Carlyle, ‘are Emblems; what 


14 Ps, xliv. 14, 15. 


16 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


thou seest is not there on its own account... . 
Matter exists only spiritually, and to represent some 
idea and body it forth. Hence, Clothes, as despicable 
as we think them, are so unspeakably significant. 
Clothes, from the king’s mantle downwards, are em- 
blematic, not of want only, but of a manifold cun- 
ning victory over Want. On the other hand, all 
emblematic things are properly Clothes, thought- 
woven or hand-woven: must not the Imagination 
weave Garments, visible Bodies, wherein the else in- 
visible creations and inspirations of our Reason are, 
like Spirits, revealed, and first become all-power- 
my 

In speaking of ecclesiastical vestments, we shall 
confine ourselves to a study of those with which daily 
use has made all the faithful familiar—that is, the 
vestments worn in the celebration of the Mass. Here 
the word evolution is the most appropriate, for only 
very gradually and by the slow process of time did 
certain garments come to be set apart as sacred, and 
to be used only by the ministers of the altar in the 
actual discharge of their liturgical functions. 


5 Sartor Resarius, I, xi. 


CHapTeR II 
Liturgical Vestments 


§ 1. The Amice (Amictus). 


HE Amice is the first among the sacred vest- 
ments put on by the priest as he vests for Mass; 
but, in order of time and origin, it was one of the 
last to come into general use, and cannot be traced 
back to a period earlier than the eighth or ninth cen- 
tury. Originally it appears to have been but a linen 
cloth with which the priest covered his neck, probably 
for the purely utilitarian purpose of protecting the 
more valuable upper garments from being soiled by 
perspiration. It may be, also, that it was introduced 
as a protection for the throat. What Amalarius and 
others say about the custodia vocis in connexion with 
the amice, may perhaps be taken to refer as much to 
the protection of the vocal organs as to the ethical 
‘custody of the tongue.” 

Some would see in the amice a memory of the 
Jewish ephod; but the only possible point of resem- 
blance can be found in that both ephod and amice 
are worn over the shoulders. In the Middle Ages 
the amice was not only worn over the shoulders, but 
also served to cover the head. Rupert of Deutz 
(1135) speaks of it as a head-covering. When the 

17 


18 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


chasuble had been put on, the amice was thrown back 
over the shoulders. At an early date the amice came 
to be adorned with a parura (or “apparel’’), that is, 
a band of more or less elaborately embroidered silk. 

The amice is still used as a covering for the head 
in some of the older religious orders, at least in the 
accessus ad altare and again on the way back to the 
sacristy. Since the revival of the old forms of 
ecclesiastical vestments, amices with apparels have 
once more come into use. 

In the ordination of a subdeacon, the bishop 
draws the amice over the head of the candidate, de- 
claring that by it is signified castigatio vocis (that 1s, 
reserve in speech). But this spiritual signification 
by no means excludes the more utilitarian origin of 
the amice, which was introduced, as we have seen; 
to protect both the vestments and the throat. The 
heat of summer demanded that the vestments be 
preserved from perspiration, and the unheated 
churches of the Middle Ages made it necessary to 
protect the throat from the cold. The mystical mean- 
ing now attaching to the sacred vestments does not 
go back to a very high antiquity. About the tenth 
century, when it became customary to make of the 
amice (or humeral, as it was also called) a covering 
for the head as well as the throat, the symbolism 
now attaching to it was shown in all its appropriate- 
ness. The amice is a mystical helmet—an integral 
part of that spiritual panoply so graphically described 
by St. Paul.t Hence, as he puts it on, the priest 
prays: “Place, O Lord, upon my head the helmet 

1Eph., vi. 13-18. 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 19 


of salvation that I may overcome all the attacks of 
the devil.” 

Such is the evolution of the amice. At first, as 
far as we can see, it is but a kerchief or muffler to 
protect the throat and preserve the vestments. 
Gradually, it becomes an integral part of the 
liturgical vesture of the priest of the New Law, and, 
as such, is made symbolical of that protection which 
we expect from on high in our daily wrestling with 
enemies that are all the more dangerous in that they 
are unseen. 


§ 2. The Alb (Alba). 


The Alb is one of the most remarkable among the 
vestments worn by priests and levites of today. It 
is a white garment, reaching to the ground, with 
close fitting sleeves, and is confined by a girdle or 
cincture. It is normally reserved to priests, deacons 
and subdeacons, and, as its name indicates, it must 
needs be white. But alb (alba) is only one of many 
names by which this vestment has been designated 
in the course of time. Tunica, linea or talaris, 
poderis, camisia, were names in common use at dif- 
ferent epochs. The alb exists since the ninth century 
as a specific sacred vestment in its present shape. 
Since that time, and long before, it has been one of 
the many liturgical vestments used by the Church, 
. but in the earliest times it would appear to have been 
practically the only specific ritual vestment. 

Originally the tunic was a garment commonly 
worn at Rome and Athens during the period of the 
Cesars. The tunic of the Greeks and that of the 


20 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Romans was secured round the waist by a belt (ex- 
cept the tunica laticlavia of the Roman Senators). 
At first it was a sleeveless garment, or had only 
abbreviated sleeves; however, already in the days of 
St. Augustine, it was considered unseemly to wear it 
without sleeves, or with only abbreviated ones. 

This garment eventually became our alb. From 
the fourth century onwards, it is spoken of as a dis- 
tinctly liturgical dress. In his “Dialogue against 
Pelagius,” St. Jerome asks: “What injury to God 
is it if . . . the bishop, the priest, the deacon and 
the rest of the clergy go forth in white garments?” 
Canon 41 of the so-called Fourth Council of 
Carthage forbids the deacon to wear the alb, except 
when discharging his liturgical functions (ut diaconus 
tempore oblationis tantum, vel lectionts, alba utatur). 

Most remarkable is the testimony of the Stowe 
Missal, in which we find the following prayer: Rogo 
te, Deus Sabaoth, altissime Pater sancte, ut me tunica 
castitatis digneris accingere et meos lumbos baltheo 
tui amoris ambire (I beseech Thee, God of hosts, 
holy and supreme Father, that Thou wouldst clothe 
me with the tunic of chastity, and gird my loins with 
the cincture of Thy love). Here we have a clear 
mention of both alb and girdle as early as the seventh 
century.” 

Up to about the twelfth century the alb was worn 
by all clerics; since that time, a shorter alb (our 
surplice or rochet) has come into general use for 
minor clerics, and, except at Mass, is now commonly 
used by priests and bishops in most functions. 


2 See Braun, Die priesterlichen Gewdander des Abendlandes, p. 27. 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 21 


In the course of the twelfth century the alb begins 
to lose its plainness. Up till then only the lower 
edge had been adorned with a fringe or strip of 
costly material. ‘Apparels’? now became general, 
as in the case of the amice. These are oblong pieces 
of embroidery or brocade, sewn on the lower part 
of the alb, both in front and behind, smaller ones 
being attached to the sleeves. The effect of these 
“apparels” (parure, as they were called) is very 
striking. In the last three centuries “‘apparels’’ have 
made room for lace decoration to the great loss of 
true liturgical art. However, since the revival of 
the old forms of vestments, apparelled albs are not 
infrequently seen, especially in England. 

Durandus sums up the various mystical explana- 
tions of the alb.* Its color, white, symbolizes purity. 
It is made of linen, which is not naturally white, and 
only becomes so by a lengthy process of bleaching; 
in like manner purity cannot be preserved, unless we 
practise mortification. It is also a reminder of the 
white garment which Herod put on our Lord, when 
he and his whole court derided the Lord of glory 
and treated Him as a fool. 

Holy Church looks on the alb as an emblem of 
priestly purity and freedom from sin; in that spirit 
she puts the following prayer on the lips of the priest 
as he vests himself in his snow-white alb: “Cleanse 
me, O Lord, and purify my heart, so that, having 
been washed in the Blood of the Lamb, I may enjoy 
everlasting bliss,” 


3 Rationale Divin. Off. 


22 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


§ 3. The Girdle or Cincture (Cingulum). 
The Girdle is the third of the sacred or priestly 


ornaments. Its introduction, in one form or another, 
was rendered necessary by the alb. ‘The alb,” says 
Durandus, ‘‘must be secured around the loins of the 
bishop or priest by means of the zona, or girdle, in 
order that he may not be hindered in walking by its 
loose and long folds, and in order that the priest 
may be admonished thereby not to allow his priestly 
purity, symbolized by this white garment, to be im- 
paired by the fascination of the senses.’ The girdle 
serves, therefore, both a practical and a mystical 
purpose. 

All lturgists of the latter part of the Middle Ages 
speak of the girdle. Its shape has varied in the 
course of the centuries; at present it is a plain cord, 
but a few surviving examples and some miniatures 
show it to have been an elaborately embroidered 
sash, though not as long as the modern cincture. 

The mystical signification of the girdle is obvious; 
in fact, as Braun remarks,* there is far more agree- 
ment between the explanations of liturgists and the 
acceptance of these by the Church in respect to the 
girdle than there is with regard to any other liturgical 
vestment. There is an almost natural symbolism in 
the girdle, and the language of the Scriptures and 
the Fathers makes us all familiar with its meaning: 
‘‘Let your loins be girt,”” says our Lord,® upon which 
St. Gregory makes the comment with which we are 


* Op. cit., p. 50. 
5 Luke, xii. 35. 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 23 


so familiar: Lumbos enim precingimus, cum carnis 
luxuriam per continentiam coarctamus (We gird 
our loins when we restrain the lusts of the flesh by 
continence ) .° 

As we have seen above when treating of the alb, 
the Stowe Missal makes the priest pray for charity 
(meos lumbos baltheo tui amoris ambire); the 
Roman Missal connects the girdle exclusively with 
the virtue of chastity. “Gird me, O Lord,” we are 
made to pray, ‘“‘with the cincture of purity and ex- 
tinguish in my loins the ardor of lust, that there may 
abide in me the vigor (virtus) of continence and 
chastity.” 


§ 4. The Maniple (Manipulus). 


The Maniple has borne many names in the course 
of its evolution: mappula, sudarium, manuale. All 
these and other designations hint at its origin and 
purpose. The liturgical use of the maniple originated 
in Rome. Up to the ninth century and even beyond, 
it served a purely practical purpose, and was simply 
a napkin or handkerchief. Just as the amice was a 
plain linen cloth wrapped around the neck in order 
to protect the outer vestments from perspiration, SO 
the mappula was a linen cloth, held in the hand or 
carried on the left arm, for the purpose of wiping 
either the face or the hands of both celebrant and 
ministers. It is obvious that, if a mappa or sudarium 
was necessary in private life, it was even more so 
in the public functions of the Church, especially when 


6 Lect, I. 2 Noct. Conf. n. Pontif. 


24 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


we consider the climatic conditions of the country of 
its origin. 

Our maniple has undergone very much the same 
transformation as the so-called mappa consularis. At 
first the mappa of the consul was but an ordinary 
handkerchief, which he also used to give the signal 
for the beginning of the public games. In course of 
time it lost its obvious use and even its original form, 
and became an emblem of the consular dignity. But 
it does not follow by any means that the liturgical 
mappula is derived from the consular one; only the 
origin of both is alike. 

The appellation manipulus appears as early as 781 
in a deed by which Aldegaster gives to the monastery 
of Obona (in Asturia, Spain) three mantos, six stolas 
and five manipulos.” It ranks among liturgical vest- 
ments at least since the ninth century, and in Spain, 
as we have just seen, even since the eighth. 

According to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope Sylvester 
I (314-326) ordained that deacons should wear dal- 
matics in church, and that their left hands should be 
covered with a linen towel (pallits linostimis levam 
eorum tegerent). The pallium linostimum of the 
deacon was a linen cloth which he carried on his left 
forearm or in his left hand, and used, if the necessity 
arose, for the purpose of wiping the sacred vessels. 
We may gather this from a remark of Amalarius: 
‘Afterwards the deacon places the chalice and his 
sudarium (napkin) upon the right-hand corner of 
the altar; it will be very handy to wipe up any trace 
of dirt that may befall, whilst the priest’s own will 


7 Annal. O. S. B., I, 25, quoted by Braun, of. cit., p. 55. 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 25 


thus remain quite clean.”’ So both priest and deacon 
had each his own kerchief or maniple. 

It is difficult to find any definite information as to 
the shape of the maniple prior to the ninth century. 
Amalarius declares expressly that in his time it was 
a linen cloth. We also know that at least from that 
time (that is, the ninth century) it was carried in 
the left hand (manu sinistra portatur, says Ama- 
larius). ‘The miniatures of that period show how 
it was folded and held between the thumb and fore- 
finger, and allowed to fall down on both sides of 
the hand. About the twelfth century the custom of 
wearing the maniple over the left arm had become 
universal, and has not altered since. At the same 
period it underwent another and final alteration. 
From a simple piece of linen destined to serve a prac- 
tical purpose, it became a mere ornament. 

In the Museum of Durham there is preserved a 
most precious maniple of the tenth century. It was 
found in 1827 in the tomb of St. Cuthbert in the 
Cathedral of Durham. ‘This ornament had been 
made by command of Queen Elfled or /Ethelflead, 
wife of Edward the Elder, for Bishop Frithestan of 
Winchester, who was consecrated in 905. It is “‘a 
strip of cloth of gold, most richly adorned with 
figures in needlework. It has a uniform width of 
two inches and a quarter, and is thirty-two inches 
long, thus hanging down for sixteen inches on either 
side of the wearer’s wrist. The extremities terminate 
in a fringe of crimson purple an inch and three- 
quarters in length.” ° 


8 Cfr. Thurston in The Month, October, 1898, p. 405. 


26 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


When the maniple (the old-time sudarium) had 
become a mere ornament, the need of something 
more practically useful had not disappeared. So we 
find decrees of bishops and synods prescribing an- 
other sudarium in place of the ornamental maniple; 
this new sudarium was generally attached to the Mis- 
sal. Thus, in 1200, Odo of Paris, commands as 
follows: Districte precipitur, ut quilibet sacerdos 
habeatincelebratione missa@, propter munditiam vesti- 
mentorum servandam circa altare, unum manutergium 
pendens circa missale, ad tergendum os et nares, st 
fuerit necesse (It is strictly enjoined that when he 
says Mass, and for the sake of the cleanliness which 
should adorn the altar, every priest should have a 
handkerchief attached to the Missal, for the purpose 
of wiping his mouth and nostrils, if the need were to 
arise). 

In the same spirit, Bishop Grandison of Exeter 
(1327-1369) likewise prescribes a handkerchief or 
napkin, in addition to the maniple: “We enact that 
at Mass the priest, the deacon, and the subdeacon 
should constantly keep a little napkin (parvum manu- 
tergium) in their hands, that the vestments may not 
get soiled in front, and to wipe off the perspiration. 
So, too, when the wine and water are being poured 
into the chalice, or the water at the Lavabo, let a 
napkin be held underneath, and when they sit down, 
let some linen cloth, reserved specially for this pur- 
pose, be laid over their lap.” ® : 

Incidentally, it may be remarked here that the 


® Thurston, Joc. cit., p. 402. 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 27 


purificator, which we now place over the chalice, can- 
not be anything else but that same sudariolum or 
parvum manutergium so often mentioned by litur- 
gists, bishops and synods of the latter centuries of 
the Middle Ages, when the maniple no longer served 
a practical purpose. 

The conferring of the maniple on the subdeacon 
at his ordination does not go back further than the 
twelfth century. 

The mystical interpretations of the maniple to be 
found in the writings of liturgists are many and 
varied. The original purpose of this vestment is 
clearly pointed out in the prayer of the Ambrosian 
Missal: ‘Put, O Lord, the maniple in my hands for 
the removing of all bodily uncleanliness, that I may 
be worthy to serve Thee without stain.’ The word 
manipulus has led most commentators to base their 
interpretations upon Psalm cxxv. 6, 7: Euntes ibant 
et flebant, mittentes semina sua: venientes autem 
venient eum exultatione, portantes manipulos suos 
(Going they went and wept, casting their seeds. But 
coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying 
their sheaves). Manipulus means “a handful,” and 
at first our present-day vestment was but a folded 
linen carried in the hand. A manipulus is also a sheaf, 
or handful of stalks. of wheat or any other cereal. 
So we pray, as we put on the maniple: ‘‘May I be 
worthy, O Lord, to carry the maniple of weeping 
and sorrow, that thus I may receive with exultation 
the reward of toil.” The “maniple of tears” is an 
allusion to the pristine practical purpose of our 
sacred ornament; the prayer itself is of great anti- 


28 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


quity and is already found in a Sacramentary of 
Troyes of the middle of the eleventh century. 


§ 5. The Stole (Stola). 


The word stola (erod#) occurs in the Scriptures, 
where it has the meaning of dress (perhaps cere- 
monial dress), as for instance in the parable of the 
prodigal son: ‘‘Bring forth quickly the first robe”’ 
(stolam primam).° Again, St. John describes the 
saints as standing before the throne “in white robes”’ 
(amicti stolis albis).** Originally, the word was used 
to designate the long flowing robe worn by Roman 
matrons. Liturgically, it is a long narrow strip of 
silk, most frequently richly embroidered, which is 
worn by bishops, priests and deacons, though dif- 
ferently by each of these three orders of the hier- 
archy. 

As a distinctive dress or vestment, the stole leo 
called orarium) does not appear to be of Roman 
origin. At Rome, says Msgr. Duchesne,” insignia 
(viz., distinctive robes) were not looked upon with 
much favor. The orarium, both of priest and dea- 
con, as a distinct insigne, remained unknown there 
until the tenth century, though it had been adopted 
everywhere else. The Ordines indeed make men- 
tion of the orarium, but we see it worn even by sub- 
deacons and acolytes. It was not a distinctive badge, 
so to speak, but merely a sudarium (mufiler or ker- 


10 Luke, xv. 22. 
11 Apoc., vii. 9. 
12 Origines du Culte, p. 276. 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 24 


chief) which had come to be an integral part of the 
dress of the upper classes, and so came to be used 
by the clergy, who at first had no distinctive dress, 
but merely wore that generally used by the better 
classes. The word orarium, etymologically con- 
sidered, bears out this interpretation. It comes from 
os (face), not from orare (to pray), as medieval 
liturgists would have it. The orarium was a cloth 
with which the face would be wiped, or which could 
be used to cover the face or even the head. The 
word stola, to designate the vestment at first called 
Orarium, came into general use about the ninth or 
tenth century. In the Life of Bl. Leo IX, there is 
mention of “orarium, quod vulgo stola dicitur.’”’ * 

The earliest mention of the orarium as a vestment 
exclusively reserved to the higher orders of clerics, 
occurs in the Acts of the Council of Laodicea (in 
Phrygia), which forbids subdeacons, lectors, and 
other clerics of the lower degrees to wear this gar- 
ment. 

In the decrees of synods held in the fifth, sixth 
and seventh centuries at Braga and Toledo, we meet 
with several ordinances concerning the stole. Thus, 
the fourth canon of the Fourth Council of Braga 
says: ‘‘When the priest prepares for Mass that he 
may offer the sacrifice . . . he shall not do it unless 
he has put the orarium on both shoulders, as he 
received it at his ordination, and in such a manner 
that, placing one and the same orarium round his neck 
and shoulders, he may have the sign of the cross upon 


his breast.” The First Council of Braga (561) had 
13 Acta SS., Apr. 11. 


30 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


already prescribed that deacons should wear their 
oraria, not under their tonic, but over it, and hanging 
over their shoulder, ‘‘else,’”’ says the Council, “they 
would not appear to differ from the subdeacon.”’ 

In the canon quoted above, the Council adds that, 
if the Fathers order the priest to wear his orarium 
in the manner described, they do so because “‘it is 
an ancient prescription of the Church that, at his 
ordination, the orarium should be placed over both 
shoulders of the candidate. How then should he not 
wear, at the time of the Sacrifice, that which he has 
received in the sacrament [of Orders]? From 
these words we are able to draw the very important 
conclusion that in the seventh century, at least in 
Spain, it was already an ancient law or practice of 
the Church for the priest to receive the stole at his 
ordination, and to wear it at Mass, crossed over his 
breast, just as priests do today. Moreover, it seems 
obvious that the stole or orarium of those days had 
very much the same shape as our own stole, and was 
looked upon as an emblem or insigne of a spiritual 
power and hierarchial standing. 

The Council of Toledo (633) prescribes that the 
deacon’s stole be worn on the left shoulder, falling 
down both in front and behind. The custom of wear- 
ing it like a scarf across the chest and back (en 
bandouliére) seems to go back to the ninth century, 
and was based upon a practice of the Roman Church. 

In some countries, during the Middle Ages, the 
custom was introduced of wearing the stole at all 
times, even apart from any liturgical function. Thus 
the Council of Mayence (813) commands priests 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 31 


always to wear the orarium, propter differentiam 
sacerdotin dignitatis (that is, to render them always 
recognizable as priests). We must bear in mind that 
for several centuries the ordinary dress of priests and 
laymen of some standing was not distinguishable. 
We see this from the letter of Pope Celestine (422- 
432) to the Bishops of Provence. The Council of 
Tribur (895) renews the above-mentioned Decree 
of Mayence, and adds that the robbery or murder 
of a priest who, when on a journey, was vested in 
his stole, should be punished with a penalty three 
times as heavy as if he had been without it, since in 
the latter case he could not be so easily known to 
be a priest. Of St. Thomas of Canterbury his his- 
torian relates that from the time he was ordained 
priest he always wore his stole: Quodam sacro or- 
dinis insigni, quod stola seu orarium dicitur, mox ut 
sacerdos, utrumque, quod sacerdotum est, humerum 
ambiebat, et hoc quotidie, et in omnium visu gestabat 
(As soon as he was made a priest, he covered his 
shoulders, as is the practice of priests, with a certain 
sacred emblem of order, which is called stole, or 
orarium, this he wore daily and in sight of all) .** 
The mystical signification of the stole of both dea- 
con and priest may be gathered from the words 
spoken by the bishop as he places this sacred vest- 
ment upon the shoulders of the candidate at the 
moment of ordination. ‘The deacon’s stole signifies 
the power given him to minister at the altar and to 
distribute the Holy Eucharist. In this office of the 
deacon we may perhaps see the origin of the orarium, 


14 Migne, Patr. Lat., CXC, 1095. 


32 PRIEST AT THE: ALTAR 


which, as we have said, was at first but a strip of 
linen, with which he covered or wiped his face and 
perhaps the mouth (0s, orarium) of the communi- 
cant, after he had drunk from the sacred chalice. 
During the ordination of deacons, the bishop lays 
the stole on the candidate’s left shoulder, saying: 
Accipe stolam candidam de manu Dei; adimple minis- 
terium tuum; potens est enim Deus, ut augeat tibi 
gratiam suam (Receive this white stole or garment 
from the hand of God; fulfill thy office, for God is 
able to augment His grace to meet all thy needs). 
The ministry or office and the power to discharge it 
worthily, are from God, and the stole is the symbol 
of both. 

The priest’s stole is a symbol of the holy servitude 
undertaken by the minister of the altar. ‘The yoke 
of the Lord,” is the burden of all the prayers of 
most of the early and medieval sacramentaries when 
there is mention of the priestly stole. But the stole 
is also a garment of joy and an emblem of the righte- 
ousness which should adorn the soul of the priest: 
Accipe jugum Domini: jugum enim ejus suave est, et 
onus ejus leve (Accept the yoke of the Lord, for 
His yoke is sweet and His burden light). Thus the 
Pontificale Romanum. This symbolism is more fully 
explained in the prayer which we say in the act of 
putting on the stole: “Restore unto me, O Lord, the 
stole of immortality (stolam immortalitatis) which 
I have lost through the prevarication of our first 
parent: and though I be unworthy to draw nigh unto 
Thy mystery (sacramentum), may I yet merit ever- 
lasting joy.” 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 33 


§ 6. The Chasuble (Casula). 


The chasuble is the priestly garment par excel- 
lence. It is essentially the Mass vestment, and so is 
reserved exclusively to the priest. But it was not 
always so. hus, at any rate in the Roman Church, 
the vestment we now call chasuble was commonly 
worn by deacons, subdeacons, and even by clerics in 
minor orders. The only survival of this practice in 
our present-day Liturgy is the custom by which the 
deacon and subdeacon wear folded chasubles in Lent 
and Advent. There can be little doubt that our 
chasuble was originally an article of ordinary and 
everyday wear. “At Rome in the fifth century,” says 
Duchesne, “‘the outdoor dress of persons in position 
or office consisted of an undergarment—that is, a 
tunic, with or without sleeves—and a penula,—viz., 
a very ample cloak, without opening in front, and 
without sleeves. In the middle of this garment there 
was an opening through which the head was passed, 
and it was folded up on both sides, over the arms, 
when it was necessary to use the hands.” ** The 
color of this garment was generally purple or dark, 
whereas the tunic was bright colored. The penula 
(also called colobus, and later on planeta, casula, 
amphibalus) seems to be identical with our chasuble. 
The Codex Theodosianus, at the end of the fourth 
century, forbids senators to wear the military cloak 
(chlamys), and prescribes for them a garment called 
penula or colobus. This decree, however, did not 
abrogate the toga as the official dress of senators. 


15 Origines du Culte, p. 365. 


34 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Anyone who is at all familiar with the pictures 
or mosaics of the early Christian centuries must see 
an obvious identity between, I do not say the modern 
chasuble, but at least between what we call ‘‘Gothic”’ 
chasubles and the upper garment worn by priests and 
bishops in these mosaics and miniatures. A visit to 
any of our museums would change this impression 
into certainty, for we are fortunate enough to possess 
a great many specimens of chasubles of high anti- 
quity. The color of this sacred vestment was not 
fixed by any law of the Church. In the Middle Ages 
only two vestments were required by Canon Law for 
the vestry of the ordinary parish church. So it would 
appear obvious enough that one and the same vest- 
ment did duty on days on which varying colors are 
now of obligation. The tunic of the deacon, as we 
have seen, was of a bright color, whereas the hues 
of the chasuble or penula were generally dull or 
purple. Hence the custom arose for the deacon and 
subdeacon not to wear the tunic and dalmatic in Lent 
and on other penitential occasions, these garments 
being symbols of joy and gladness. So they would 
wear the chasuble, which was plain and of a subdued 
color. During that part of the Mass when he would 
be most busy ministering at the altar (that is, from 
the Gospel to the Communion), the deacon, retain- 
ing his stole, would fold his chasuble like a scarf, and 
wear it like the stole on his left shoulder, pinning 
it under his right arm. This custom is very ancient 
and certainly goes back as far as the ninth century. 
In our own days the deacon wears a chasuble folded 
and pinned up in front, but lays it aside altogether 


LITURGICAL VESTMENTS 35 


at the Gospel, and in its place wears the stolone (or 
broad stole), which is simply the folded chasuble 
of old. 

The practice of vesting the candidate for the 
priesthood with the chasuble at the time of his or- 
dination is of very long standing, and we find traces 
of it from the seventh century onwards. In a Pon- 
tificale of Séez of the year 1045, the Bishop thus 
addresses the newly ordained: Recipe planetam, ut 
possis legaliter celebrare Missam.*® | 

The spiritual and mystical signification of the 
chasuble may be gathered from the prayer uttered 
by the Bishop, when he puts the chasuble on the new 
priest. © Receive the priestly robe,’ he says, ‘by 
which is signified charity’; and when, at the end of 
the Mass, the chasuble is fully unfolded, he says: 
Stola innocentia induat te Dominus. 

The symbolism is easily perceived, and is pointed 
out by medieval liturgists and commentators with 
surprising unanimity. Just as the bell- or tent-shaped 
chasuble (casula, small tent) envelops the whole 
body and covers all the other garments, so is charity 
the perfection of man, giving the other virtues their 
final beauty and worth. In fact, all the other virtues 
have their root in charity, and by charity alone is 
man made righteous and acceptable before God. 
“Without charity I am nothing,” says St. Paul. This 
the Bishop points out to the young priest, when, 
having given him the chasuble and having explained 
that by it charitas intelligitur, he goes on to say: 


16 See Braun, Die priesterlichen Gewdnder des Abendlandes, p. 
150, note x. 


36 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


potens est enim Deus, ut augeat tubi charitatem et 
opus perfectum (for God has power to increase thy 
charity and to perfect thy works). ‘The chasuble is 
also a symbol of the yoke of the Lord. So Holy 
Church makes us pray, as we put on the sacred 
“Mass vestment”’: ‘O Lord who didst say ‘My yoke 
is sweet and my burden light,’ grant that I may so 
wear this [vestment] that I may obtain Thy grace.” 

In the eyes of the Church, therefore, the chasuble, 
the most important vestment of the sacrificing priest, 
is a symbol both of charity, the queen of virtues, and 
of the yoke of Christ. Hence it is not a matter for 
surprise that, once it was decided to depart from 
pristine simplicity or even plainness, an embroidered 
cross, or the figure of the Crucified, became the chief 
ornament of the chasuble. We read in the “Imita- 
tion”: HHabet (sacerdos) ante se et retro dominice 
crucis signum, ad memorandam jugiter Christi pas- 
sionem. Ante se crucem in casula portat, ut Christi 
vestigia diligenter inspiciat. . . . Post se cruce sig- 
natus est ut adversa qualibet . . . clementer pro 
Deo tolerat (The priest hath before and behind him 
the sign of the cross of our Lord, that he may ever 
remember the Passion of Christ. Before him he 
beareth the cross on the chasuble, that he may dili- 
gently behold the footsteps of Christ. . . . Behind 
him he is marked with the cross that he may .. . 
suffer for God’s sake whatsoever adversities befall 


him ).?7 


17 Tmitation, IV, v, 3. 


CHAPTER III 
Introibo Ad Altare Dei 


§ 1. The Priest’s Mystical Identity with Christ. 


HOUGH most of the liturgical vestments were 
taken over from the ordinary uses of daily life, 
they scon became modified in shape and form as they 
began to be used exclusively at the altar in the service 
of the Church, and were regarded as appropriate 
symbols of divers virtues and spiritual powers. 
“Every high-priest taken from among men is or- 
dained for men in the things that appertain to 
God.”* For this reason it is right that his outward 
appearance also should single him out from among 
those in whose behalf he is to be a mediator between 
God and man, between heaven and earth. The ador- 
able Sacrifice of the Mass, the offering whereof 1s 
the chief priestly function, is identical with the sac- 
rifice which Jesus Christ offered once for all upon 
the altar of Calvary. Our Mass does not supersede 
or supplement the sacrifice of the cross; it continues 
it until the end of time, when the eternal designs of 
God shall have reached their fulfillment. 
The Victim of Calvary was likewise the priest of 
that tremendous immolation. And, whereas Christ 


Sriep.ev. tt: 
37 


38 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


is a “priest for ever according to the order of Mel- 
chisedech,”? there is set up a wondrous identity 
between the priesthood of the Catholic Church and 
the priesthood of our Lord. Since we offer the same 
sacrifice that Christ offered, though the manner of 
oblation be different, there must needs be identity 
of power in Him and in us. Christ’s priestly char- 
acter and office are shared by the Catholic priest. 
The priest, whilst fully retaining his human per- 
sonality, his human gifts, and alas! his defects and 
limitations, is taken up by Christ. In the discharge 
of his sacerdotal function, the priest, so to speak, 
sinks his personality in that of our Lord: Christ 
speaks and acts through him, and the priest speaks 
and acts as if he and the divine High-priest were but 
one person. And so they are in very deed, the nature 
of the sacrifice itself demanding this mystical one- 
ness. For who could have power over Christ’s body, 
over His very life, but Christ Himself? “‘No man 
taketh it away [My life] from Me, but I lay it down 
of Myself, and I have power to lay it down: and 
I have power to take it up again.” * The mystic 
immolation upon the altar of the Lamb of God is 
therefore accomplished, inasmuch as the priest and 
Jesus Christ are one. 

What could be more becoming than that the 
oneness of the priesthood should be made sensible 
to all by the mysterious, highly symbolical garb worn 
by the priest in the sacrificial act? The priest is then 
taken from among, and raised above, his fellows. 


2 Ps. cix. 4; Heb., passim. 
3 John, x. 18. 


INTROIBO AD ALTARE DEI 39 


He is caught up by the mighty power of Christ’s own 
priesthood. He enters into the cloud that shrouds 
the sanctuary wherein God dwells. As his office is 
wholly divine, let there remain in him and about him 
nothing that is of this earth, but let his very vesture, 
by its varied splendors, show forth the glory of his 
“kingly priesthood,” * which makes him the minister 
and the associate of the one High-priest who, ‘‘offer- 
ing one sacrifice for sins, for ever sitteth on the right 
hand of God.’’§ 

Here it may not be amiss to make the remark that, 
even when the priest leaves the sacristy for the cele- 
bration of his own private Mass, his approach to 
the altar, though he be preceded by but one solitary 
altar boy, is yet in the nature of a ceremonial prog- 
ress, and should be distinguished by unaffected dig- 
nity. The rubrics prescribe that he should have his 
head covered, the chalice being held in the left hand, 
the right hand resting upon and supporting the burse. 
It is scarcely necessary to say that nothing should be 
carried except the chalice, and nothing placed on the 
burse. Too many priests think the burse a suitable 
vehicle for their pince-nez. The present writer has 
known a venerable old canon, long since gone to his 
eternal rest, who invariably placed on the burse of 
his chalice both his pince-nez and a green bottle of 
smelling salts. Such practices obviously take away 
a great deal from the solemnity of our /ntroitus ad 
altare. 

The priest, then, is now vested with the mystic 


41 Pet., ii. 9. 
» Elebs x: 12. 


40 PRIEST AL DHESALTAR 


splendors of the liturgical garments. His body 1s 
wrapped in the folds of a snow-white alb, the emblem 
of purity and innocence. On his head is “‘the helmet 
of salvation’; his loins are girt with the cincture of 
continence; from his elbow is suspended the maniple 
of sorrow which shall one day be changed into joy; 
the stole rests on hts neck like the sweet yoke of 
Christ, and over all is spread the all-enfolding, all- 
covering priestly robe signifying charity, that queen 
of virtues which gives to the others their luster and 
consummate perfection. With such dispositions of 
his soul outwardly signified by the sacred vestments, 
the priest proceeds to the foot of the altar, whereon 
the undying Victim is about to be immolated. 

His first act is to bend the knee, or at least (if 
the Blessed Sacrament be not present) to bow pro- 
foundly before the altar. Then, making upon him- 
self the sign of the cross, he confesses his faith in the 
mystery of the Trinity, and at the same time pro- 
claims that the sublime mysteries are to be accom- 
plished by the power and to the glory of the Three 
Divine Persons. “In the Mass,” says a holy soul 
of our own days, “the world, by the voice of the 
priest, calls down Jesus Christ. The adorable 
Trinity gives Him; the world and the priest receive 
Him, and again offer and give Him to the Holy 
Trinity that has bestowed Him on us.” 

Holy Church never begins any of her ceremonies 
or prayers unless it be “in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The mys- 
tery of the Triune God is the basis of our religion. 
What should we be unless our spirit always enjoyed 


INTROIBO AD ALTARE DEI 41 


“the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity 
of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost’ ? ® 
Moreover, all glory and honor belong to the ever- 
blessed Trinity, from whom all good things proceed. 
The Mass is earth’s highest act of worship and 
homage to God: Quando sacerdos celebrat, Deum 
honorat, angelos letificat, Ecclesiam edificat, vivos 
adjuvat, defunctis requiem prestat (When the priest 
celebrates, he honors God, gladdens the Angels, edi- 
fies the Church, helps the living, procures rest for 
the dead).” 

Such great and glorious things can be realized only 
in the name and power of the Holy Trinity, whom 
the priest invokes as he takes his stand at the foot 
of the altar. Relying not on his own worth or righte- 
ousness, but solely upon Him from whom all bless- 
ings flow, the priest declares that he is even about 
to draw nigh unto God’s altar: Introibo ad altare 
Dei. It is no small matter to approach the altar 
of God. In the Old Law death was the penalty 
inflicted upon any one who should dare to touch the 
Ark of the Covenant. When the Philistines restored 
the Ark of the Lord which had been in their land 
seven months, “‘the Bethsamites were reaping wheat 
in the valley: and lifting up their eyes they saw the 
Ark, and rejoiced to see it. . . and He slew of the 
people seventy men and fifty thousand of the com- 
mon people. ... And the people lamented and 
said: ‘Who shall be able to stand before the Lord, 
this holy God?’ § 


SAT Cory xilis) 33. 
7 Imitation, IV, v, ult. 
8] Kings, vi. 13, 19, 20. 


42 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


But the altar of the Lord is no mere object of 
terror, precisely because it is the altar of the Lord: 
‘How lovely are Thy tabernacles . . . Thy altars, 
O Lord of Hosts!’?® The altar upon which the 
priest sacrifices day by day is like the tree of life 
which God had planted from the beginning in the 
midst of the garden-of delights. After the fall of 
Adam, God expelled him from the garden, and set 
a guard of cherubim with flaming swords. “‘to keep 
the way of the tree of life, lest perhaps man put 
forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and 
eat, and live for ever.” *° The tree of life produced 
fruits to which the Author of life had imparted a 
virtue which was beyond their nature—viz., that of 
constantly renewing the physical life and energy of 
man. ‘The wear and tear which is inseparable from 
existence itself should have been made good by the 
marvelous virtue of this mysterious tree, and man- 
kind should have spent its allotted span of life upon 
this earth in the freshness and vigor of eternal youth, 
until the day when each of the sons of Adam should 
have entered, without tasting the bitterness of death, 
upon that vaster life which awaits him beyond this 
present period of probation. 

There is now no tree of life for the body, but the 
altar of God is an unfailing source of spiritual and 
supernatural life. introibo ad altare Dei: ad Deum 
qui letificat juventutem meam. ‘These words sound 
strange indeed when we ponder them with the atten- 
tion of which lifelong familiarity is apt to rob us. 


9Ps. lxxxiii, 2, 4. 
19 Gen., ili. 24, 22. 


INTROIBO AD ALTARE DEI 43 


God is life itself. As St. John says: In ipso vita erat, 
et vita erat lux hominum. To come in contact with 
Him is to come in contact with life—hence to renew 
one’s own vitality. God communicates of His own; 
He gives what He Himself is, in the measure in 
which we are able to receive. He is eternal and un- 
changing. What He was yesterday, He is today 
and shall be for ever more. He is “the High 
and the Eminent that inhabiteth eternity.”’7* The 
changes and vicissitudes of this transitory universe 
do not touch Him, for He is raised above all change- 
ableness, inasmuch as He possesses the fulness of 
life. So even though He is called the “Ancient of 
Days,’ age has tien no wrinkles on His brow, 
and St. Augustine rightly calls Him Pulchritudo 
semper antiqua, semper nova (Beauty ever old, ever 
new). 

“Who gladdens my youth,” says the priest. This 
sounds almost paradoxical. His very name (priest, 
presbyter, senior) implies old age, whereas he speaks 
of his youth. But the paradox is only apparent. 
Whatever may be the number of his years as a citizen 
of this world, in his priestly role he knows no change 
but remains ever the same, for he has a share in 
the changeless, eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ. 
Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice are independent of 
the cyclic changes of the sun and moon. Though He 
was slain upon the cross on a certain date of our 
human calendar, the virtue of His sacrifice extends to 
all periods of time, both before and after; He 1s 


11 Ps, xlvil. 15. 


44 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


‘the Lamb which was slain from the beginning of the 
world.” ¥ 

In like manner our priestly office is above and 
independent of the chronology of our years. We 
share in Christ’s own eternal youth and vigor, the 
more so since the altar to which we approach is 
Christ Himself, according to the words with which 
the bishop addresses the subdeacon on the day of his 
ordination: Aliare quidem sancte Ecclesie tpse est 
Christus, teste Joanne, qui, in Apocalypsi sua, altare 
aureum se vidisse perhibet, stans ante thronum, in 
quo et per quem oblationes fidelium Deo Patri con- 
secrantur (The altar of Holy Church is Christ Him- 
self, on the authority of St. John, who relates in his 
Apocalypse how he saw a golden altar before the 
throne, upon which and by which the offerings of the 
faithful are consecrated to God the Father). 


$92. Uhe Altar. 


Sacrifice, priesthood and altar are correlative 
terms. Where there is sacrifice, there is also a place 
set apart for its oblation, and the spot thus selected 
is invested with a special holiness. The word altar 
(altare) signifies alta ara, the word ara itself being 
derived from aipev, which implies a lifting up or 
elevation. Among the pagan nations, as well as 
among the Jews, the altar was a lofty structure, so 
that the sacrifice could easily be witnessed by those 
who stood around. A natural instinct seems to have 
prompted men of every race to sacrifice on the tops 


12 Apoc., xl. 8. 


INTROIBO AD ALTARE DEI 45 


of hills and mountains, rather than in the monotonous 
plain; and, where there were no natural heights, art 
and labor would often supplement nature. In the 
Old Testament we read that Abraham erected the 
altar, on which he was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac, 
upon the summit of a mountain which the Lord Him- 
self showed him, and which the Father of all be- 
lievers called: The Lord seeth.* Later on the altar 
of sacrifice was erected upon the holy hill of Sion. 
Our Lord Himself chose to offer His sacrifice upon 
Mount Calvary, and the Last Supper also, which was 
the first Mass ever said, took place, according to 
tradition, upon the slopes of holy Sion. St. Paul 
calls the Christian altar @voworyjouwv'* and tpdreta. 
Both terms are properly applicable, not to the altar 
of the cross or Calvary, but to the altar upon which 
the Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered. 

If we wish to rise to a fuller realization of the 
sacredness of the altar of the New Law, we need 
but read attentively the wonderful prayers and 
ponder the gorgeous ceremonial with which Holy 
Church dedicates her altars and imparts to them an 
abiding consecration. The consecration of an altar, 
like that of a church, is a very different thing from 
our common “openings’’. 

By its consecration the altar is permanently re- 
moved from the ordinary uses of human life: Deus, 
qui in omni loco dominationis tue clemens ac benignus 
dedicator assistis, exaudi nos... ut inviolabilis 


13 Gen., xxil. 14. 
14 Heb., xiii. 10. 
am ieCor,, Xx. 20: 


46 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


permaneat hujus loct consecratio (O God who by Thy 
merciful and salutary presence sanctifiest every place 
subject to Thy dominion, hear us and grant that the 
consecration of this spot may remain inviolable for 
ever more). The altar is a source of graces: In 
hac mensa sint libamina tibt accepta, sint grata, sint 
pinguia, et sancti Spiritus tui semper rore perfusa; 
ut omni tempore hoc in loco supplicantis tibi familia 
lue anxietates releves, @gritudines cures, preces 
exaudias, vota suscipias, desiderata confirmes, postu- 
lata concedas (May the offerings that are put upon 
this table always be acceptable to Thee; may they 
be pleasing, ripe and always watered with the dew 
of Thy Holy Spirit; mayest Thou at all times on this 
spot relieve the anxieties of Thy children who sup- 
plicate to Thee, heal their ills, hear their prayers, 
receive their vows, approve their desires and grant 
their petitions). 

In a noble Preface, the Pontiff sings the ancient 
glory of our altar, foreshadowed by that altar which, 
at the dawn of history, Abel consecrated with his 
own blood. Later on, the altar of Melchisedech and 
that of Abraham (seminarium fidet nostre) point 
clearly to the life-giving mystery of our Lord’s Pas- 
sion. Ihe bishop prays that God would look upon 
this altar as upon that which Isaac erected, when he 
struck a well of limpid water; or as He looked down 
upon the stone upon which Jacob rested his head, 
and on the altar made of twelve stones, by which 
Moses foreshadowed the choice of twelve Apostles. 

In the Preface sung at the consecration of a por- 
table altar, the bishop beseeches God in words of 


INTROIBO AD ALTARE DEI 47 


wonderful beauty, which one despairs of rendering 
in English: Inhereas hic placido @eterne majestatis 
obtutu. . . . Adsit misericordieg tue ineffabilis pie- 
tas: ut, te largiente, referat premium quisquis in- 
tulerit votum (Do Thou fix upon this spot the serene 
gaze of Thy eternal Majesty. . . . May the inef- 
fable kindness of Thy mercy be present: so that, 
through Thy bounty, every one who offers at this 
altar may receive his reward). 

Our altar is no mere block of stone or wooden 
table; it is the living Christ, and the faithful are the 
mystic covering of the altar: Altare sancte Ecclesiz 
est Christus . . . cujus altaris palle et corporalia 
sunt membra Christi, scilicet fideles Dei quibus 
Dominus, quasi vestimentis pretiosis, circumdatur 
(The altar of Holy Church is Christ . . . of which 
altar the coverings or cloths are Christ’s members, 
to wit, those who believe in God who form as it were 
a precious garment for the Lord) .*® 

Moreover, our altar is identical with the altar 
which the Apocalyptic seer beheld in heaven, and to 
which there is an obvious allusion in the prayer which 
follows the Consecration of the Mass, when we pray 
that the Lord would command His angel to take up 
the Victim that lies slain upon our earthly altar, and 
place It upon that lofty altar which is ever before 
His presence in heaven. From the identity of the 
Victim, we rightly infer the identity of altars. 

The proper material of an altar is stone. Should 
the altar be of wood, there must be placed in its 
center a stone “‘sepulchre,” containing the relics of 


167 Ordinat. Subdiac. 


48 PRIEST AT WTHEVALTAR 


some Martyr and of perhaps some other canonized 
servant of God. ‘The origin of this practice, which 
is now law, is traceable to the days of the Catacombs. 
The bodies of the more celebrated martyrs and con- 
fessors (bishops or priests) were often buried, not 
in the shelf-like tombs of the great dormitory of 
God’s children (cemeterium), but in a sarcophagus 
abutting on the wall, and surmounted by a throne- 
like structure (arcosolium) ; upon the flat top of the 
sepulchre Mass was offered, and so we have the be- 
ginning of that universal practice of never celebrating 
the Holy Sacrifice except upon the bodies of the 
Saints. St. John, in the Apocalpse, saw “under the 
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word 
of God, and for the testimony which they held.” ** 
These words must have inspired our predecessors in 
the faith. In the Martyrs our Lord continues His 
bloody sacrifice until the end of time. He is the 
origin and inspirer of martyrdom. Sacrificium illud 
offerimus de quo martyrium sumpsit omne princi- 
pium,*® says Holy Church in the Secret of the Thurs- 
day of the third week in Lent. Christ the Head 
is on the altar; the Saints, His members, are beneath 
it. Christus hostia . . . super altart, qui pro omnt- 
bus passus est; illi sub altart, qui illus redempti sunt 
passione (Christ the victim . . . is upon the altar, 
for He suffered for all; they are beneath the altar, 
who have been redeemed by His Passion) .*® 

17 Apoc., vi. 9. 

18 “We offer up that sacrifice from which every martyrdom has 


had its inception.” 
19 §t. Ambrose, Ep. ad Marcell, 


CHAPTER IV 
Judica me and the Confiteor 


ia is necessary that the priest should constantly 

react, by a lively faith, against the dulling effects 
of custom and familiarity. If he realizes daily that 
the altar at which he celebrates is the holiest spot 
in the universe, he will never be bereft of the joy 
that is God’s daily gift to him, and his experience 
will not belie the triumphant assertion of his lips: 
Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat juven- 
tutem meam.* 

Immediately after these words, which form its 
antiphon, the priest recites the forty-second Psalm. 
In this Psalm, David prays to be delivered from the 
wicked, from an unholy people. Left to his own 
resources, man walks alone and in sadness. Yet his 
soul need not despond, nor despair. God is his hope; 
He will send forth His light and His truth—that is, 
dissipate our present gloom by the light of faith, 
and at the same time fill our hearts with a joy which 
is for ever renewed in the sure hope that is ours 
that the God of truth will realize in our persons the 
promises He has made. These sentiments of the 
royal singer are also those of the priest, as he stands 
at the altar. His heart is swayed by contrary emo- 

1The full text of the Ordinary of the Mass will be found on 
PP- 309 sqq. 
49 


50 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


tions; seeing his own weakness and proneness to evil, 
the priest might well feel despondent. But such 
sentiments are quickly overcome by the knowledge 
that God is with us, that His light and truth are 
ours, and thus fear is cast out by trust and love— 
trust in God, who is the source of joy. 

The Psalm Judica me ends on a note of quiet, yet 
firm confidence in God, the God who is the salvation 
of my countenance—that is, the Saviour to whom 
I look up as unto my God. My God—that is, all 
the power and riches of God are mine, since He is 
my God and I am His. ‘The greater our trust in 
God, the less we rely on self, the more so as our 
personal sins have only too often brought home to 
us the consciousness of our misery. Humility is the 
most suitable disposition of one who is about to enter 
into the Holy of Holies. ‘The first act of a truly 
humble man is to acknowledge his sins, and such 
acknowledgment is the surest means of obtaining 
forgiveness. In the spiritual order our best excuse 
is self-accusation, because God will not despise a con- 
trite and humble heart. 

The Confiteor is an acknowledgment of whatever 
transgressions we may have committed, be it in 
thought, word or deed. We confess our guilt, not 
only before God Almighty, but also before the sin- 
less Virgin, the great Princes of the Apostles, St. 
John the Baptist, and the whole blessed company of 
heaven. We pray that these courtiers of the King 
of heaven would plead with Him in our behalf. “I 
saw,’ says Bl. Angela of Foligno, “in that I had 
offended my Creator, I had offended all creatures that 


JUDICAUMEVAND “DHE, CONFITEOR) | 51 


had been made for me. . . . And I asked of all 
creatures—all of which I saw I had offended in that 
I had offended their Creator—not to accuse me be- 
fore God. And it seemed unto me that all creatures 
had pity upon me, and all the Saints in like man- 
ner 

His humble confession and the prayers of the 
Saints have obtained for the priest an all-embrac- 
ing, all-including forgiveness: Indulgentiam, absolu- 
tionem et remissionem peccatorum. Strengthened 
from on high, he at last ascends the steps of the 
sacred altar, the while he once more pleads for 
mercy and forgiveness: Aufer a nobis ... (Take 
away from us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our iniqui- 
ties, that we may be made worthy to enter with pure 
minds into Thy Holy of Holies). 

He then kisses the altar, at the place where the 
relics of the Saints repose, and through their inter- 
cession renews his plea for pardon and forgiveness. 


2 Visions, etc., of Bl. Angela of Foligno, vi. 


CHAPTER V 
The Introit 


‘THE prayers which are recited at the foot of the 

altar by the priest and his ministers were in 
reality the last addition to the Liturgy of the Mass. 
It is certain that originally the Mass began with the 
reading of the Epistle and Gospel. According to 
the Liber pontificalis, the custom of singing a psalm 
or psalms at the beginning of the Eucharistic Sac- 
rifice was first introduced into the Roman Liturgy 
by Pope Celestine I (422-432): Hic constituit ut 
psalmi David 150 ante sacrificium psallerentur anti- 
Phonatim ab omnibus, quod antea non fiebat, sed tan- 
tum epistole Pauli recitabantur et sanctum Evange- 
lium (This Pope ordained that one, or some, of the 
150 psalms of David should be sung antiphonally 
by all before the Sacrifice. This custom had not been 
previously observed, but only the Epistles of Paul 
and the holy Gospel were read). Antiphonatim 
describes the custom of singing psalms alternately, 
two choirs answering each other and, as it were, vying 
with each other. This custom originated in the East 
and was first introduced in the West by St. Ambrose 
at the time when he and his people were besieged 
in his church by the troops of the Arian Empress 
Justina. In order to keep up the spirit of his people 

52 


THE INTROIT 53 


during the long hours of that night of alarms and 
terrors, the holy Bishop made them sing hymns and 
psalms, the multitude being divided into two choirs, 
each choir singing alternate verses. We learn this 
from The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book VII, 
Chapter ix: Tunc hymnis et psalmis ut canerentur 
secundum morem Orientalium partium, ne populus 
meroris tedio contabesceret, institutum est, et ex illo 
in hodiernum retentum, multis jam ac pene omnibus 
gregibus tuis et per cateras orbis partes imitantibus 
(Then was it first introduced that hymns and psalms 
should be sung, according to the custom of the 
Eastern Churches, lest the people should faint 
through the tediousness of grief; and this custom, 
which is retained even to this day, is imitated by 
many, yea, by almost all thy congregations throughout 
the rest of the world). 

The custom of singing the psalms and hymns in 
such wise that one choir alternated with and re- 
sponded to the other, began early in what St. Augus- 
tine calls the Orientales partes. It is not unreason- 
able to interpret in that sense what Pliny wrote to 
Trajan in his famous letter from Bithynia. Among 
other things, he tells his imperial master that the 
Christians were wont to meet in the early morning, 
when they would carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere 
secum invicem (that is, sing the praises of Christ in 
alternating chants). This would make our present- 
day psalmody almost as old as Christianity itself. 

However, antiphonal singing implies more than 
alternating singing. The antiphon is a psalm verse 
which today is said, or sung, only at the beginning 


54 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


and the end of a psalm. But in the early centuries 
it used to be repeated between each verse of the 
psalm, as we still do in the Invitatory of Matins. 
This is the meaning of that great liturgist of the 
early centuries, St. Benedict, when he prescribes that 
certain parts of the Office are to be sung “with an 
antiphon”. ‘The antiphon gave the key both to the 
meaning of the psalm and to the manner of its 
singing. | 

Our Introit of today is a survival of the psalm 
which was at first sung in its entirety, together with 
an antiphon, whilst the priest and his ministers pro- 
ceeded from the secretarium (our modern sacristy) 
to the foot of the altar. The entrance of the clergy 
into the sanctuary must necessarily be stately and 
dignified. What could be more natural, then, than 
for the assistants to sing during that time some ap- 
propriate psalm—the psalms being practically the 
only hymns known to the faithful, at any rate before 
the days of St. Ambrose, who introduced them and 
made them popular? In his Rule, St. Benedict calls 
the hymn simply 4mbrosianus, though St. Hilary of 
Poitiers had also composed metric hymns some time 
before St. Ambrose. 

But the psalm was not for long sung in its entirety. 
Soon the antiphon alone was sung, together with the 
first verse of the psalm and the Gloria Patri, after 
which the antiphon was once more repeated. The 
Gloria Patri, as the normal conclusion of all psalms, 
was introduced in the Western Church by Pope 
Damasus—at the request of St. Jerome, if we may 
admit as authentic the letter of Jerome to the Pon- 


ETE TNVVROED 55 


tiff, in which he says: Istud carmen laudis (i.e., the 
doxology) omni psalmo conjungi precipias (Com- 
mand that this song of praise be added to every 
psalm). 

The Introit is not found in the old Sacramentaries, 
but only in the Antiphonaries and Ordines, because 
neither antiphon nor psalm was read by the celebrant, 
but only sung by the choir and people. 

Whilst the choir sang the introductory psalm, it 
was an obvious thing for the celebrant to prepare his 
own soul for the performance of his sacred func- 
tions. ‘This he did in those preliminary prayers 
which he now says at the foot of the altar; “but for 
a long time,” says a well-known authority, ‘no 
special prayers were appointed, they were not written 
in any official book. ‘The fixed form we have now 
is the latest part of the Mass. No such prayers are 
mentioned at all before the eleventh century.” * 

Originally, as we have seen, the Introit and its 
psalm were sung by the choir or the people, but not 
read by the priest, but since the fourteenth century 
it has been customary for the celebrant to read both. 
This is now strictly enjoined by the rubrics. As soon 
as he begins to read the first words of the antiphon 
of the Introit, the priest makes upon himself the 
sign of the cross. Without a doubt this practice goes 
back to the time when the Introit marked the begin- 
ning of the Mass and when the preliminary prayers, 
now said at the foot of the altar, were still indeter- 
minate and left to the private devotion and choice 
of the celebrant. At a Requiem Mass, the priest 


1 Fortescue, The Mass, p. 225. 


56 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


does not cross himself, but traces a cross over the 
book: Manu dextera extensa, facit signum Crucis 
super librum, quasi aliquem benedicens* (With his 
right hand extended, he makes the sign of the cross 
over the book, as if he were giving a blessing). We 
may see here the mind of Holy Church, which by 
this ceremony shows that the Mass about to be said 
is for the relief of the faithful departed, rather than 
for the help and wellbeing of the living, though this 
latter purpose is not and cannot be excluded from 
the Mass, even when specifically offered up for the 
dead. 

Since the Mass during many centuries began 
directly with the antiphon of the Introit, its first 
words were used to designate the Mass of the day, 
or even the day or the feast itself. “Thus even today 
we still call a Mass for the dead a Requiem; the 
First Sunday of Advent is called 4d te levavi; the 
Second, Populus Sion, etc. But these denominations 
are not now so universal as they were in the Middle 
Ages, though even today we still speak of Gaudete 
Sunday or Letare Sunday to designate the Sundays 
which occur in the middle of Advent and Lent, re- 
spectively. 

The text of the Introit, as well as that of the 
Gradual and other varying parts of the Mass, is 
not taken from the Vulgate, but from the Vetus 
Itala, the oldest Latin translation of the Bible, based 
upon the Septuagint as regards the Books of the 
Old Testament. Wlence the antiphons or psalm ver- 
sicles do not always tally with the text of our 


2 Ritus Cel. Miss., XIII, 1. 


THE INTROIT 57 


breviaries, which give us the psalter of the Vulgate. 
The rubrics ordain that the Introit should be read 
junctis manibus, and at the Gloria Patri the celebrant 
tenens junctas manus, caput inclinat versus crucem. 
The folding of hands is prescribed probably because 
of the Gloria, which, being an act of homage and 
adoration, demands this external manifestation of 
reverence. 

The Introit is frequently of striking beauty and of 
singular appropriateness to the day, or is specially 
applicable to the Saint whose feast is kept. Very 
often, also, the note struck in the Introit is heard 
again in the other variable parts of a Mass. The 
Introit, no less than the other parts of the Mass, 
can supply the priest with much matter for private 
prayer, or even for the pulpit. It marks the begin- 
ning of what was called the Mass of the Cate- 
chumens—that is, those readings and prayers which 
precede the oblation of the gifts of the faithful (the 
bread and wine that were to be changed into the 
Body and Blood of Christ, to be partaken of by 
them at the Communion). At the Offertory, the 
Catechumens had to withdraw from the assembly of 
the faithful. The readings from the inspired Books 
and the chants were thus chosen for the purpose not 
only of worship, but also of instruction and edifica- 
tion. 

It will be helpful to give the text of the variable 
parts of a Mass in order to illustrate the remarks 
we shall have to make as we proceed. The Mass 
of Easter Sunday is eminently suited to our purpose. 


3 Retus Cel. Miss., IV, 2. 


58 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Let us first notice the rubric: Statio ad Sanctam 
Mariam Majorem. On certain solemn days the 
faithful of Rome, headed by their clergy, would mect 
for the celebration of the holy mysteries in one of 
the many sanctuaries of the Eternal City. The 
Roman Pontiff himself celebrated Mass, assisted by 
the clergy of the whole city. The faithful were given 
a rendezvous in some church, and that first meeting 
was called collecta. From this meeting-place they 
went in procession to the church designated for the 
Statio, singing psalms and litanies, as we still do on 
the Rogation Days. At the Statio the Pope cele- 
brated Mass and preached to the people. It was on 
these occasions that St. Gregory delivered the forty 
homilies on the Gospels which we still possess. St. 
Gregory fixed the churches where there were to be 
Stationes, but not all the Stationes indicated in the 
Missal are of his appointing. The word itself is a 
Roman military term corresponding to our own word 
“post” (‘to post” troops to guard a place or build- 
ing). 

The antiphon of the Introit of Easter-day is made 
up of verses 18, 5 and 6 of Psalm cxxxviii, in the 
order here given and with slight variations from the 
text of the Vulgate: Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum, 
alleluia: posuisti super me manum tuam, alleluia: 
mirabilis facta est scientia tua, alleluia, alleluia (1 
have arisen, and am still with Thee, alleluia; Thou 
hast laid Thy hand upon Me, alleluia; Thy knowl- 
edge hath become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia). The 
psalm verse is verse 1 of Psalm cxxxviii, and is iden- 
tical with the Vulgate text. David is the author of 


THE INTROIT 59 


our psalm. He sings the all-embracing knowledge 
of God from whose vision nothing can be hidden. 
Holy Church puts some of his words on the lips of 
the risen Saviour: “I rose up and am still with Thee,” 
Jesus Christ says to His heavenly Father, or, in sensu 
accomodatitio, to each faithful soul and to the whole 
Church. Posuisti super me manum tuam,; for it is 
written: “Thou wilt not suffer Thy Holy One to see 
corruption.” * The wisdom of God, as well as His 
infinite power, is marvelously shown forth in the 
Resurrection of our Lord; for in that great mystery 
He is revealed as the true Son of God: ‘Who was 
predestinated the Son of God in power. . . . by the 
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the 
Goad i 

Thus, our Introit is a very real introduction into 
the meaning of Easter-day. It sounds a ringing note 
of joy and triumph for Christ and for the Church. 
“IT am risen, to die no more, and always shall I be 
with My Church, until the end of time.” And for 
ever is the thought of His triumph over death a 
reminder of our own personal victory over the grave. 
Tu cognovisti sessionem meam et resurrectionem 
meam: God knows all things, even before they come 
to pass; hence, even as He knows the day of our 
“sitting down” (our death), so He beholds the day 
of our final “rising up.” 


4Ps. xv. 10; Acts, il, 27. 
5 Rom., i. 4. 


CuaptTer VI 
Kyrie Eleison 


N the earliest centuries of the Church the Mass 

began, not with the Introit, as it does today, but 

with a lengthy Litany, of which the only remaining 
trace is the Kyrie eleison. 

At Low Mass (which is the one we are studying), 
the priest, standing in the middle of the altar, alter- 
nately with his ministers or servers, invokes three 
times each of the three divine Persons. The Kyrie 
eleison (together with the Agios O Theos, etc., of 
Good Friday) bears witness to the fact that up to 
the third century, and possibly beyond, the whole of 
our Mass was in Greek. The invocation itself occurs 
many times in our Holy Books, both in those of the 
Old and the New Testaments, especially in the 
Psalms; for instance, in Psalm vi. 3: “Have mercy 
on me, O: Lord:for D amiweak;) in aviatt. inom: 
‘“Hlave mercy on us, O Son of David’; or in Luke, 
xvii. 13: “Jesus, master, have mercy on us.” 

Its liturgical use began in the East, and thence it 
passed into the West, about the sixth century. St. 
Benedict, when describing the order to be followed 
in the divine psalmody, speaks repeatedly of the 
Kyrie eleison. Wis testimony is of great value, since 
he wrote in the early part of the sixth century: 

60 


KYRIE ELEISON 61 


sequatur ... supplicatio Litania, id est, ‘Kyrie 
eleison. + We recite this invocation in the original 
Greek in order to emphasize the unity of the Chris- 
tian people: ut unum ejus populum esse ostendamus, 
unumque Deum utrumque populum credere?® (that 
we may show God’s people to be one, and that each 
people believes in one and the same God). 

Originally, the Litany consisted of a number of 
detailed prayers and petitions, called out or sung by 
a deacon, to each of which the people, especially the 
children, answered: Kyrie eleison. Such is the cus- 
tom of the Greek Church to this day. From the 
Peregrinatio Silvie we \earn that a choir of boys sang 
the responses to the prayers of the deacon, quorum 
voces sunt infinite; that is, the invocation, Kyrie 
eleison, was repeated by them an indefinite number 
of times. 

When Rome and the Western churches definitely 
adopted the Kyrie, the preliminary or explanatory 
invocations were left out. Also, whereas the Greeks 
merely repeat Kyrie eleison without distinction, the 
Latin Church addresses its invocations to each divine 
Person separately. St. Gregory the Great (590- 
604) comments on this difference between Rome and 
Constantinople: ‘We neither say nor have said 
Kyrie eleison, as it is said by the Greeks. For, 
whereas amongst the Greeks it is said together by 
all, with us it is said by the clerics and answered by 
the people; and Christe eleison is said as many times, 
which is by no means the case among the Greeks. 


1 Reg. St. Ben., IX. 
2 Alcuin, De div. off., xl 


62 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


But in the daily Masses we leave out some things 
which are generally said: we only say Kyrie eleison 
and Christe eleison, so that we may dwell rather 
longer on these words of prayer.” ° 

The meaning of the holy Pontiff is that at Rome 
only the Kyrie is retained on ordinary days. On 
certain special occasions, however, as for instance 
the Rogation Days, the full Litany was retained. 

The Litany, as has been said, marked the begin- 
ning of the Mass. We still see it in its ancient form 
in the Liturgy of Holy Saturday and the Saturday 
before Whit Sunday. There is no Introit; the Kyrie 
with which the Mass begins is but the conclusion of 
the Litany of the Saints, which thus marks the real 
beginning of the Mass. 

According to Duchesne, the Litany of the Saints, 
as we now find it in our Roman Missal, preserves 
the ancient form of alternating prayers as used in 
the primitive Roman Church. It has undergone 
many alterations, especially in its opening section, 
which contains the invocations of the Saints. But the 
concluding section, when we respond Te rogamus 
audi nos, has a distinct flavor of antiquity, and bears 
a very close resemblance to some of the litany-like 
prayers of the Greek Church. Though we have no 
earlier text than one dating from the eighth century, 
it is probable that the Litany is of much greater anti- 
quity.* 

We may, then, attribute the introduction of the 
Kyrie, as we now say it at Mass, to St. Gregory, as 


3 Ep. ix ad Ioan. Episc. Syrac.; see Fortescue, The Mass, p. 234. 
Duchesne, Origines du Culte chrétien, p. 157. 


KYRIE ELEISON 63 


does his biographer, John the Deacon. It is easy to 
see how natural it was that, with the introduction 
of daily Mass, the long Litany with its acclamations, 
or responses by the people, should come to be 
omitted in its entirety. Rome has always avoided 
extremes, and we know by experience that mere 
length of prayer is not by any means synonymous 
with devotion. 

St. Benedict is no mean authority on liturgical 
questions. He makes mention of the “supplication. 
of the Litany; that is, Kyrie eleison,”’ as of some- 
thing that was not in any way new or unusual in his 
time. There are reasons for believing that already 
in the fourth century the Kyrie was sung or said both 
at Mass and at the other sacred offices. In 529 the 
Synod of Vaison, in its third canon, ordains the fre- 
quent repetition of the Kyrie. The Council bases 
its prescription on the universal custom of the time: 
‘‘Whereas both in the Apostolic See and in all the 
churches of the East, and throughout the provinces 
of Italy, a sweet and most salutary custom has grown 
up that Kyrie eleison be said very frequently with 
much devotion and compunction, it has pleased us 
that in all our churches this most holy practice be 
introduced at Matins [the Night Office and Lauds], 
at Mass and at Vespers.” 

The Council ordains that Kyrie eleison should be 
said or sung frequentius (that is, often, even very 
often). The number is not specified, neither did St. 
Gregory determine the number of times each invoca- 
tion was to be repeated; all he did was to ordain 
that the invocation should be said alternately by the 


64 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


priest (or deacon) and the people, and that mention 
should be made of the second Person of the Trinity. 

The limitation to nine invocations is first met with 
in the eleventh century. Amalarius (ninth century) 
speaks indeed of the invocation of the three divine 
Persons, but not of the number of the invocations. 
“Let the cantors say: Kyrie eleison, Lord, the 
Father, have mercy; Christe eleison, have mercy, 
Thou who hast redeemed us by Thy Blood; Kyrie 
éleison, Lord, the Holy Ghost, have mercy.” > 

In the later Middle Ages, whenever it was sung, 
the Kyrie came to be “‘farced’’—that is, interspersed 
with tropes. Tropes are words added to the text, 
by which its meaning is explained or amplified. The 
Kyrie is generally sung to an elaborate melody, the 
voice, as it were, lingering on one syllable or vowel. 
So they fitted-in tropes between the Kyrie and the 
concluding eleison in such wise that a syllable of the 
trope was made to correspond to each note of the 
‘neums’” (melodies). These tropes were all abol- 
ished when the Missal was reformed by Pius V, 
though we find traces of them in the titles of some 
cf the Kyries in the official Vatican chant books. 
Thus, for instance, the Kyrie No. 1, for Paschal 
time, bears the sub-title Lux et Origo, which words 
are simply the beginning of the tropes sung to this 
Kyrie. Or again, the Kyrie called Fons Bonitatis, 
refers to one which began thus: Kyrie fons bonitatis, 
a quo bona cuncta procedunt, eleison. 

A supplication of such venerable antiquity should 
be said with reverence and deliberation. The priest 


5 De eccl. off., Ill, c. 6. 


KYRIE ELEISON 65 


should, therefore, avoid all unseemly haste, nor 
should he permit the servers to indulge in what often 
looks like speed-rivalry between celebrant and 
acolyte. Each petition must be said separately, not 
simultaneously by priest and acolyte. 

“The Kyrie is said junctis manibus. To fold the 
hands, or to extend them crosswise, has always been 
preéminently the Christian attitude of prayer. This 
external attitude of supplication to the Triune God 
should be but the outward manifestation of the feel- 
ings of our hearts, as we repeat nine times a prayer 
of which it has been well said that, by itself, it sig- 
nifies, or typifies, all other prayers (omnes univer- 
sales Ecclesie preces significat),” ® 


6 Rupert of Deutz, De div. off., tit. 29. 


CHAPTER VII 


Gloria in Excelsis Deo 


‘THE hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo is said on all 

Sundays except Septuagesima and during Lent 
and Advent, on Saints’ days, on all ferias during 
Paschal time, but not on the ferzas during the other 
parts of the year. It is also said at solemn votive 
Masses, unless the color of the Mass is purple, but 
not at private votive Masses, except at the Mass 
of Our Lady in Sabbato, because Saturday has long 
been regarded as a minor feast of Our Blessed Lady. 
It is also recited at the votive Mass of the Angels. 
The reason is obvious, for the Gloria is properly the 
Hymnus Angelicus. ‘The Angels intoned it first in 
the blessed midnight hour of Christ’s Nativity, then 
Holy Church took it up, added to it, and made it 
that perfect song of praise which, morning after 
morning, thrills and gladdens our hearts. 

Yet for a long time the Gloria was not recited by 
the ordinary priest. It was the exclusive privilege 
of bishops to say the Gloria on Sundays and Saints’ 
days, and the ordinary priest was only allowed to 
say it on Easter Sunday. About the middle of the 
eleventh century, Berno of Reichenau complains of 
this restriction, and asks that priests, as well as 
bishops, should say the Gloria on all Sundays and 

66 


GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO 67 


Saints’ days, ad augmentum laudis divine. The re- 
striction was withdrawn before the end of the cen- 
tury, for we learn from his Micrologus that, outside 
Advent, the feast of the Holy Innocents and Sep- 
tuagesima, priests and bishops alike recited the 
Gloria on all Sundays and feast-days. 

It is certain that the Gloria comes to us from the 
East. It is a very old Greek chant, written in loose 
rhythm. ‘The oldest documents in which our hymn 
is found are the Constitutiones Apostolicae, VII, and 
a work entitled De Virginitate, attributed with good 
reason to St. Athanasius. In these documents our 
hymn is described as a morning prayer. Its author- 
ship is unknown, but some would attribute its com- 
position to St. Hilary of Poitiers. However, it seems 
scarcely credible that this great witness to the divinity 
of the Word should have used some of the expres- 
sions which occur in the original Greek text. What 
is more probable is, that he heard the hymn during 
the years of his exile in Asia Minor, and translated 
it into Latin. The following is the text of the Apos- 
tolic Constitutions: 


Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax, in hominibus bona 
voluntas. Laudamus te, hymnis celebramus te, benedicimus 
te, glorificamus te, adoramus te per magnum pontificem, te 
verum Deum, ingenitum unum, solum inaccessum, propter 
magnam gloriam tuam, Domine rex celestis, Deus Pater 
omni potens. Domine Deus, Pater Christi, Agni immaculatt, 
gilt tollit peccatum mundi; suscipe deprecationem nostram, 
qui sedes super Cherubim; quoniam tu solus Dominus Jesu 
Christi, Dei universe nature creata, regis nostri, per quem 
tibi gloria, honor et adoratio. 


In this text the entire hymn is addressed to God 


68 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


the Father. The concluding clauses savor strongly 
of what is called ‘‘subordinationism,” that is, an 
apparently attenuated, yet real form of Arianism. 
The entire hymn was revised and corrected when it 
was definitely adopted by both the Greek and Latin 
Churches. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope 
St. Telesphorus (138) ordered Masses to be said 
on the night of the Nativity of our Lord. He also 
ordered that the hymn Gloria in excelsis should then 
be sung, as it is in St. Luke’s Gospel. This means, 
probably, that only the opening sentences of the 
hymn were sung. So, if St. Hilary is really the 
author, he only added the clauses beginning with 
Laudamus te, though, as we have observed above, 
it is far more likely that the holy Bishop of Poitiers 
only translated into Latin a hymn already popular 
in the East. 

The Gloria, as we now say it at Mass, is divided 
into three parts, in which we successively render 
honor and glory and thanksgiving to the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost. ‘Thus, our hymn is a 
perfect doxology, and is called the great doxology, 
in contradistinction to the Gloria Patri, et Filio, et 
Spiritui Sancto, which is called the minor doxology. 
Abbot Cabrol justly remarks that most of the titles 
and invocations of the Gloria occur almost word for 
word in the most ancient liturgical prayers, when 
liturgical language was at its very birth and in process 
of formation. To judge by the text, this hymn may 
date from the earliest ages of the Church. None 
of its formulas is out of harmony with the style of 
the most ancient authors, and it contains no expres- 


GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO 69 


sion which might not have been written in the first 
or second century.* 

Some think that Pliny alludes to the hymn Gloria 
in excelsis in his famous letter to Trajan, in which he 
informs his imperial master that the Christians were 
wont to assemble early in the morning “‘to sing\a 
hymn to Christ as to their God.’ 

In the Middle Ages the Gloria, like the Kyrie, was 
frequently “‘farced’”’ (that is, interspersed with 
tropes). This was especially the case in Masses on 
feasts of Our Lady. It would appear that these 
tropes on the feasts of Our Lady were particularly 
popular and not readily given up. This must be 
borne in mind if we want to understand the rubric 
of our Missal, which run thus: Sic dicitur Gloria in 
excelsis, etiam in Missis Beatz Mariz. Here is the 
conclusion of the “ farced ” Gloria of Our Lady’ s 
Mass: Quoniam tu solus sanctus; Mariam Sancti- 
ficans, tu solus Dominus, Mariam Gubernans, tu solus 
Altissimus, Mariam Coronans. 

One can only feel grateful that better taste should 
have restored to us the hymn of the Angels in all its 
old-world simplicity and grandeur. It would be a 
most excellent practice, were we to make of the 
Gloria the habitual expression of our praise and 
adoration of the Blessed Trinity. Homo creatus est 
ut laudet, and it would be difficult to find a nobler 
expression of praise and worship than this sublime 
canticle, which contains the substance of our inspired 
Books and is redolent of the wonderful spirit of 
prayer that was the peculiar gift of the early Church. 


1 Liturgical Prayer, p. tor. 


CuHapter VIII 
The Collect and Its Conclusion 
§ 1. The Collect 
\VVeey the priest has completed the recitation 


of the Gloria, he kisses the altar, and, turning 
around, he greets the assistants with the words, 
Dominus vobiscum. If the celebrant is a bishop and 
the Mass has a Gloria, he says Pax vobis, instead of 
Dominus vobiscum. ‘To kiss the altar is a sign of 
reverence and love. ‘The heart is considered by all 
men as the symbol and organ of love. Of this love 
of the heart the lips give external evidence, both by 
words and by physical contact with the object loved. 
True love necessarily implies reverence for the thing 
beloved. Adoration literally signifes kissing—the 
thing worshiped is approached to the lips (ad os, 
adorare). 

The Christian altar is no mere insensible block of 
stone or wooden table. It stands for Christ Him- 
self, who is for us priest, victim and altar (Altare 
sancte Ecclesia ipse est Christus). The altar must 
be of stone, because this enduring material is an apt 
image of the abiding presence of Christ in His 
Church, daily immolating Himself in the mystic sac- 

70 


THE COLLECT AND ITS CONCLUSION 71 


rifice of the Mass. He is indeed the living corner- 
stone, upon whom rests the universal Church. ‘Jesus 
Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone,”’ says St. 
Paul;* and St. Peter: “A living stone, rejected in- 
deed by men, but chosen and made honorable by 
God.” When the priest kisses the altar, he pays 
homage to the spot whereon the august Sacrifice is 
about to be offered, but over and above he is mindful 
of our divine High-priest in heaven, of whom our 
consecrated stone is a sacred and venerable image. 

This sacred, liturgical kiss is an act of homage 
addressed, in the first instance, to our Lord Himself; 
but it includes likewise the Saints whose relics rest 
in the altar tomb. ‘The Saints are the members of 
Christ’s mystical body; they cannot be separated from 
Him. Hence the strict law of the Church that the 
holy Sacrifice should always be offered upon the 
bodies of the Saints. 

Facing the congregation, the priest now extends 
and again immediately folds his hands, saying: 
Dominus vobiscum. This greeting, as well as the 
now exclusively episcopal Pax vobis, is of the highest 
antiquity. For the Eastern Liturgies the formula is 
Eipjvy taow (Peace to all), and precedes every ex- 
hortation to prayer. In the Greek Liturgy both 
priest and bishop use this one formula of salutation. 
We find the formula in the books of both the Old 
and the New Testaments; thus, for instance, when 
Boaz came out of Bethlehem into his fields, he said 
to the reapers: ‘“The Lord be with you; and they 


1Eph., ii. 20. 
2T Pet., 11. 4. 


72 PRIEST*AT ‘PREVAL DAR 


answered him: The Lord bless thee.’’* In Gala- 
tians, vi. 18, St. Paul prays thus: ‘“The grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren, 
Amen.” The same wish ends the Epistle to the 
Philippians, and to Timothy he writes: “The Lord 
Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. 
Amen.” * The Epistles also begin with a like salu- 
tation: Gratia vobis et pax. 

The grace and peace of Christ are sanctifying 
grace, by which we are made the children and friends 
of God. When the priest, or bishop, prays that the 
Lord be with us, or that peace be unto us, he does 
far more than express a pious wish. When he stands 
at the altar, the priest is the mediator between God 
and man, the authentic dispenser of the mysteries 
and graces of God, and hence also of His peace— 
that peace of God which surpasseth all understand- 
ing, which the world can neither give nor take away 
from us, if we are fortunate enough to possess it. 
‘Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace 
be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, 
your peace shall rest upon him. . . .”’* ‘The greet- 
ing Dominus vobiscum is, therefore, a sacramental, 
an infallible sign and means of grace, if those to 
whom it is addressed are properly disposed. ‘The 
peace of the Lord will be given them in the measure 
in which they are “sons of peace’. 

Here we may perhaps be pardoned if we insist on 
how important it is for the priest to realize what 


3 Ruth, ii. 4. 
4II Tim., iv. 22. 
5 Luke, x. 5, 6. 


THE COLLECT AND ITS CONCLUSION 73 


his lips utter. If it is necessary that the faithful 
should pay attention to the liturgical greeting, it is 
not less requisite that the celebrant should put his 
whole heart into it. We turn towards the people, 
not to take stock of the congregation, but to dispense 
God’s grace and peace to them. ‘The whole move- 
ment should be slow and dignified. There is nothing 
more unedifying, and withal grotesque, than to see 
a priest swing around on his heels in a whirlwind, as 
if he were carrying out a military movement on the 
parade ground of some barracks at the bidding of 
a drill sergeant. 

St. John Chrysostom speaks thus of our liturgical 
salutation, and complains of the listlessness of many: 
‘Is it I who give you peace? No, but Christ deigns 
to speak by my mouth. Were we altogether void 
of grace, yet are we not then, for your sakes. If 
the grace of God could act upon a soothsayer and 


his ass . . . for the sake of the people of Israel, 
He will assuredly not fail to act upon us also, for 
your sakes.”’ ® 


The answer to the priest’s greeting is Et cum 
spiritu tuo, which signifies simply: “And with thee.” 
The faithful pray for the priest, that the grace and 
peace of which he is the dispenser may also sustain 
his spirit. 

Before reading the Collect the priest exhorts the 
faithful to pray: Oremus. In the Greek Liturgy the 
deacon warns the people with the words: “Let us 
stand well; in peace let us pray to the Lord’; or 
simply: “‘Let us pray to the Lord.” 


6 Hom. in Ep. ad Colos. iii, c. 4. 


74 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Our present-day Oremus is the survival of a much 
longer and more detailed exhortation to prayer, such 
as we still have in the intercessory prayers of Good 
Friday. The invitation to prayer, and the detailed 
exposition of its object, would be followed by a more 
or less prolonged private prayer of the faithful, 
after which the priest would once more raise his 
voice in supplication, and, as it were, sum up, collect, 
or gather in one the prayers of the multitude. ‘That 
may well be the origin of our “Collect” (collecta, 
from colligere, to gather up, gather together, or 
sum up). 

According to Dom Cabrol, “this prayer was at 
first improvised, its subject-matter only being given 
out. By degrees such prayers as were distinguished 
by their genuine piety, their eloquence, or theological 
importance, were committed to writing, and thus 
from very early times, probably not later than the 
fourth century, collections of prayers were formed, 
a good number of which have been preserved in our 
liturgical books. In this respect the Roman Liturgy 
is exceedingly rich.” ” 

It is, however, more likely that the Collect owes 
its name to the fact that it was a prayer which was 
recited when the faithful had all assembled in the 
place or church, from which they walked in proces- 
sion to the church where the Statio was to take place. 
As soon as the faithful were gathered together, an 
antiphon with a psalm would be sung—or more 
likely, whilst the people were flocking together, a 
psalm would be sung with an antiphon interpolated 


7 Liturgical Prayer, p. 38. 


THE COLLECT AND ITS CONCLUSION 75 


after every verse. When all were assembled, a 
short prayer was said (oratio super collectam). We 
see traces of this practice to this very day; on Can- 
dlemas Day, for instance, an antiphon taken from 
Psalm xliti, with the first verse of this same psalm, 
is sung with the Gloria, and followed by a Collect. 
The word Collect has now almost wholly disappeared 
from the Missal, and we invariably speak of the 
“prayer (oratio) of the day or feast. 

The great mass of our Collects are addressed to 
God the Father; a few are addressed to God the Son 
(especially those of more recently instituted feasts), 
and none at all to the Holy Ghost, though there are 
prayers to the Holy Ghost in other Liturgies than 
the Roman and in the rituals of some Orders (for 
instance, in that of the Benedictine Order). 

The composition of the Collects is subject to some 
very definite, but simple rules. ‘The oratio begins 
with an address to God: Omutipotens sempiterne 
Deus. ‘This constant appeal to the omnipotence and 
eternity of God is very striking. What could be more 
natural than this call to One who can do all things, 
and who is ever the self-same, whereas ‘‘all flesh 
is as grass, and the years of our life are but few 
ancdsevali: 

The appeal to God’s omnipotence is often fol- 
lowed by a brief exposition of the motive of our 
prayer, or by some allusion to the day or the event 
commemorated. ‘The petition itself is always ex- 
pressed with great directness and terseness. Es- 
pecially is this so in the oldest Collects—those of the 
Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries, of which 


76 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


many are read on the Sundays after Pentecost. The 
conclusion invariably mentions the three divine Per- 
sons. The simplicity, terseness, unction, and theo- 
logical accuracy of these venerable prayers are un- 
equalled. It 1s impossible to tell who is the author 
of these masterpieces. Some attribute them to the 
great Pope of the fourth century, St. Damasus. 
What is certain is, that there was in those early days 
a peculiar gift both of conception and expression, a 
peculiar outpouring of that spiritus gratia et precum 
spoken of by the prophet. Nothing is more striking 
than the brevity of the old, and, if one may say so, 
the verbosity of the more modern Collects. It would 
be easy to compile a list of particularly impressive 
Collects; in fact, it is dificult to say that one is more 
beautiful than another, where there is such super- 
abundance of wealth of thought and phrase. ‘The 
Collect of Easter-day is an excellent illustration of 
what we have said. It opens with a direct address 
to God: “Deus.” This is followed by a brief refer- 
ence to the event commemorated that day: ‘‘Who 
through Thine only-begotten Son didst today over- 
come death and open unto us the gates of everlasting 
life.’ No translation can adequately render the 
petition thus nobly expressed: Vota nostra, que 
preveniendo aspiras, etiam adjuvando prosequere 
(To our good resolutions which Thou didst antici- 
pate with Thy holy inspirations, Brant furtherance 
also by hy gracious aid). 

The Collect of the Mass is now the concluding 
prayer of all the offices of the day, and sometimes 
it is repeated for an entire octave (for instance, the 


THE COLLECT AND ITS CONCLUSION 77 


Collect of the Epiphany and that of the Ascension). 
It expresses the spirit of the day, and is a terse sum- 
mary of the thoughts called forth by the feast. As 
such, it is an eminently appropriate subject for our 
personal meditation and prayer, and a rich source 
of inspiration for the pulpit. It would be an im- 
mense gain to both priest and people, if the preacher 
would seek inspiration, not only in the Epistle and 
Gospel, but likewise in the Collects. Thus, to speak 
only of the above-mentioned Collects of the Epiphany 
and the Ascension, the star which led the Magi to 
the feet of the Emmanuel is obviously a symbol of 
the light of faith by which we too have known God. 
What could be a more natural and logical inference 
than to pray that, having known the only-begotten 
Son of God by faith here below, we may be led to 
_ behold the splendor of His countenance hereafter 
(usque ad contemplandam speciem tue celsitudinis 
perducamur). And,.on the day on which our Lord’s 
victory ended in a sublime triumph, it is meet to 
pray that we might at least in thought dwell with 
Him in heaven (ipsi quoque mente in calestibus 
habitemus). 

Nothing could surpass in dignity the noble phras- 
ing of the conclusion: Per Dominum nostrum Jesum 
Christum. ‘Who first wrote this no one knows. 
Whoever he was, he has immortalized himself by 
words that for centuries have closed our prayers with 
the splendid rhythm of their accent and the roll of 
their vowels.’ * 

During many centuries only one Collect was said 


8 Fortescue, The Mass, p. 250. 


78 PRIEST: AT THE ALTAR 


at Mass. About the twelfth century the custom of 
saying more than one Collect or prayer was universal 
throughout the Western Church. Sicardus of Cre- 
mona, who wrote at the end of the twelfth century 
and the beginning of the thirteenth, lays down the 
rule that only one prayer be said. However he adds 
that “by the institutions of the Fathers, three or five 
or seven are sometimes said” (ex patrum insStitutioni- 
bus quandoque dicuntur tres, vel quinque, vel sep- 
tem). Medieval writers find, of course, the most 
wonderful reasons for these various numbers. The 
above-mentioned Sicardus goes so far as to quote 
Virgil as an authority in favor of the uneven number 
of Collects, for, according to the poet, numero 
gaudet impare deus.° 

On the greater solemnities of the year we still 
observe the primitive custom of saying but one Col- 
lect. If the Blessed Sacrament is exposed during 
Mass, the Collect of the Mass of Corpus Christi is 
said as well, but sub unica conclusione. ‘The same 
is done at the Mass of Ordination, when the prayer 
for the ordinands is said under the same conclusion 
as the prayer of the day. 

If, in a prayer addressed to God the Father, men- 
tion has been made of the Son, the conclusion is: 
per eumdem Dominum nostrum. If the Holy Ghost 
has been mentioned we conclude thus: in unitate ejus- 
dem Spiritus Sancti. According to the rubric of the 
new Missal, the Holy Ghost is to be understood as 
expressly mentioned in the Postcommunion of 
Easter-day (Spiritum nobis, Domine, tue caritatis 


®“Uneven numbers delight the god.”—Eclog., viii, 75. 


THE COLLECT AND ITS CONCLUSION 79 


infunde), so that the conclusion must be: in unitate 
ejusdem Spiritus Sancti. 


§ 2. Amen. 


The prayers of Holy Church, as well as her 
hymns, psalms and canticles, end with one of the 
most venerable words in human language, dimen. 
It is a Hebrew word and has remained untranslated 
in the Liturgy, though in some modern languages it 
has been translated for extra-liturgical use. Thus 
the French conclude their prayers with “Ainsi soit- 
il!” and the Italians with “Cosi sial’”’ It is a matter 
for real satisfaction that we have not attempted to 
say ‘‘So it be!” but have retained the Hebrew dmen. 

The word Amen may be taken as an adjective, 
and as such signifies firm, true, loyal; as a substan- 
tive, it signifies fidelity, God’s fidelity in realizing 
His promises. ‘hus we read in Isaias: “He that 
is blessed upon the earth shall be blessed in God, 
Amen, and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear 
by God, Amen.” * So also in the Apocalypse: 
‘These things saith the 4men, the faithful and true 
witness, who is the beginning of the creation of 
God.” * As an adverb, it signifies an emphatic 
affirmation, the adhesion or assent of the mind to 
some statement, or a wish that what is -said or 
promised may be accomplished. Thus, for instance, 
in Rom., xv. 33: “The God of peace be with you 
all. Amen!” Then we have the repeated words 


10Js., Ixv. 16. 
11 Apoc., iil. 14. 


80 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


of our Lord Himself: “4men, Amen, I say unto 
you,” which in His mouth signify a solemn declara- 
tion and afhirmation. 

When the people respond 4men at the end of the 
Collect, that short word is in itself yet another prayer, 
as well as the outward declaration that they are at 
one with the priest who has given public expression 
to what is in the minds and hearts of all. Amen 
nostra subscriptio est, consensio est, adstipulatio est, 
says St. Augustine. We should pronounce this sacred 
word with due reverence and attention. The word 
is still frequently used by the Jews. The Talmud 
says that, if a man says a hurried 4men, his days 
shall be curtailed, but, if he lingers over it, his days 
shall be lengthened. St. Augustine tells us that 
Amen remained in its original Hebrew in order that 
it might not become trivial, like some ordinary, 
familiar interjection: Non est interpretatum, ut 
honorem haberet velamento secreti, non ut esset 
negatum, sed ne vilesceret nudatum. Amen has not 
been interpreted, in order that secrecy might procure 
it more honor; not because its meaning was to be 
withheld, but lest it should be considered common if 
fully explained; *? and this was done by the authority 
of the Saints who have gone before us (propier sanc- 
tiorem auctoritatem) .° 

Very touching and most appropriate are the words 
of the great Benedictine mystic, St. Gertrude, at the 
end of the first of her “Exercises.’’ The Saint de- 
clares that God is Himself the true 4men, inasmuch 


12 Jy Joan. Traci., xii, 3. 
43 De doctrina christ., X1. 


THE COLLECT AND ITS CONCLUSION 81 


as He is truth itself. It is worthwhile quoting the 
entire passage, for it is calculated to rouse our in- 
terest and suggest a train of thought which will 
prevent us from a mere perfunctory utterance of a 
word which is so frequently upon our lips. ‘May 
the faithful God, the true dmen which knoweth 
neither pause nor interruption, condescend to excite 
within me a thirst for that beloved 4men of which 
He is the source; may He render sweet to my taste 
that sweetest 4men wherewith He doth ever nourish 
His friends; may He make me perfect in the blessed- 
ness of that Amen wherewith He completeth and 
endeth all things; may He grant me to enjoy for 
ever more the delights of the ravishing and eternal 
Amen, who will show me after this exile, according 
to my sure hope, the true dmen, Jesus, the Son of 
God, who alone sufficeth to him that loves; who, 
with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is the source 
of all good things, and who despiseth nothing that 
He has made: Amen, Amen, Amen,” * 


14 Exercises of St. Gertrude, 1 (London), p. 17. 


CHAPTER IX 
The Epistle.and Deo Gratias 
§ 1. The Epistle or Lesson. 


PROM the very beginning of the Church the 

reading of the Holy Books has been an integral 
and most important part of the Liturgy. In his 
famous “Apology” addressed to the Emperor An- 
toninus, St. Justin Martyr, who died about 167, 
gives us a fairly complete account of the religious 
ceremonial of those early days, which, according to 
him, began with the reading of selected passages 
of the Bible. It is more than likely that the Chris- 
tian Church followed more or less closely the prac- 
tice of the Synagogue, for reading was part of the 
worship of the Jews. The Acts bear witness to the 
liturgical reading of the Law and the Prophets: 
‘For Moses of old time hath in every city them 
that preach him in the synagogues, where he is read 
every sabbath.’’* When Saul and Barnabas came 
to Antioch in Pisidia, they entered the local syna- 
gogue upon the Sabbath day. ‘And after the read- 
ing of the law and the prophets,” they were invited 
to address the assembly. In the course of his ad- 
dress, St. Paul blames them “that inhabited Jeru- 


1 Acts, xv. 21. 
82 


THE EPISTLE AND DEO GRATIAS 83 


salem, and the rulers thereof,’ inasmuch as they, 
“not knowing Him (Jesus) nor the voices of the 
prophets which are read every sabbath, judging 
Him, have fulfilled them.” ? 

At first the various readings were from the 
volume of the Bible itself. The president of the 
assembly designated the parts that were to be read, 
and gave the signal to stop the reading when he 
judged it expedient, or when the allotted time was 
over. Moreover, the reading of the sacred volume 
was continuous—that is, the various books of the 
Bible were read integrally and without regard to 
the character of the time or feast. However, al- 
ready in the fourth century, the choice of the book 
was more or less in keeping with the character of 
the season of the year. Thus, we gather from St. 
Augustine that the Acts of the Apostles were read 
during Paschal time, as well as the Gospel of St. 
John.’ In course of time the full text was no longer 
read, but only selections, and these were gathered 
into one volume. According to medieval liturgists, 
St. Jerome was the first to draw up such a list of 
readings, called comes (that is, a companion for 
the lectors of the Church, or catalogue of lessons). 
Originally the number of lessons was not deter- 
mined. Since the sixth century, in the Roman 
Church at any rate, there have been only two lessons 
except on special occasions, such as the Ember Days 
or the eves of Easter and Pentecost. 

In Old Testament days the Scriptures were 


2 Acts, xill. 27. 
3 Tract. in Ioan, vi, 18. 


84 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


divided into two sections: the Law and the 
Prophets. In like manner, the New Testament was 
broadly divided into two classes of writings, those 
of St. Paul and those of the Evangelists. Thus, 
it came about that the two readings were simply 
called “the Apostle’ and “the Gospel”. In the 
Missal or Sacramentary of St. Gregory, the expres- 
sion, sequitur Apostolus, is frequent. St. Benedict, 
who wrote in the sixth century, speaks repeatedly 
of “the Apostle” (lectio Apostoli sequaiur) .* 

It is very dificult to account for the choice of 
one section of the writings of St. Paul or of the 
Gospels rather than of another, though of course 
the selection is most appropriate on certain days. 
As St. Augustine already remarked, there are some 
lessons from the Gospels so intimately connected 
with certain days or times of the year that they 
must be read. ‘Thus, the connection between the 
Epistle and Gospel of Christmas, the Epiphany, or 
the Ascension, is apparent to everyone. But it is 
not the case as regards the Epistles and Gospels 
of (say) the Sundays after Pentecost. On the feasts 
of the Saints, the Epistle is frequently most appro- 
priate, though sometimes it must be taken in sensu 
‘ accomodatlitio. 

The Epistle is invariably announced as Lectio 
(Reading)—from the Epistle of St. Paul to the 
Romans, for instance. If the reading is taken from 
Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiasticus, the Canticle 
of Canticles, or Wisdom, it is always announced as 
Lectio libri Sapientia. Medieval liturgists have in- 


£ Regula, IX. 


THE EPISTLE AND DEO GRATIAS 85 


dulged in some curious speculation as to the reason 
whythe name of Moses or Solomon is not mentioned 
when the lesson is from their books. De Ruberis 
tells us that the name of Moses is not mentioned 
because he provoked the Lord to anger, and that 
of Solomon because, deceptus a mulieribus, in 
idololatriam lapsus est! ® 

At first the Lesson or Epistle was sung by a reader. 
When the singing of the Gospel became the exclusive 
privilege of the deacon, the subdeacon also secured 
the honor of being alone permitted to sing the 
Epistle. However, even in our own days the Bishop 
may allow a cleric in minor orders to sing the Epistle 
at Mass and to discharge some of the other duties 
of the subdeacon. But he may not wear the maniple 
or purify the chalice. 

The reading of the Epistle serves a distinctly 
catechetical purpose. It constitutes the first part of 
the Mass of the Catechumens, from which none 
were excluded, because it was intended for the in- 
struction of the people: Episcopus nullum prohibeat 
ingredi ecclesiam et audire verbum Dei, sive gen- 
tilem, sive hereticum, sive Judeum, usque ad Missam 
Catechumenorum (‘Let the bishop forbid none to 
enter the church to hear the word of God, be he 
a pagan or a heretic or a Jew—up to the Mass of 
the Catechumens’’—inclusively, we must suppose) .° 

The Epistle is read before the Gospel, because it 
is symbolic of St. John the Baptist, who went before 
the Lord, whereas the Gospel is the preaching of 


5 Rationale div. off., I, 28. 
6 Concil. Carthag. IV, Can. 24 (A. D. 398). 


86 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Christ Himself. It also typifies the disciples whom 
our Lord sent two by two “before His face into 
every city and place whither He Himself was to 
comes); 

The injunction which the bishop addresses to the 
newly ordained lector may well be pondered some- 
times by the priest. We should read the Epistle 
distincte et aperte, ad intelligentiam et aedificationem 
fidelium. The faithful, especially the more in- 
structed and intelligent among them, love to follow 
the Mass and to hear the noble phrases of the 
sacred tongue. vet jusiiscestomim thatiwe doqnar 
deprive them of this satisfaction by a careless, slur- 
ring, or too hurried reading. 

It has been said above that the Epistle is fre- 
quently, if not always, chosen because of its ap- 
propriateness to the day or the time. This 1s 
eminently so in regard to the Epistle of Easter Sun- 
day, the Mass of which we have taken to illustrate 
these Notes. It begins with the address, Fratres, 
with which Holy Church prefaces all the readings 
she has culled from the writings of St. Paul. 

““Brethren: Purge out the old leaven, that you 
may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For 
Christ our pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us 
feast, not with the old leaven of malice and wicked- 
ness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and 
truth.” ° 

The Sunday sermon is commonly based on the 
Gospel, but what a rich vein of lofty thought medi- 


7 Luke, x. 1. 
PASCO... Veu7s Se 


THE EPISTLE AND DEO GRATIAS 87 


tation on the Epistle will open to us! Let us seek 
inspiration there, as well as in the Collect, and our 
weekly homily will gain much in freshness and per- 
suasiveness. 


§ 2. Deo Gratias. 
When the Lesson or Epistle is ended, the people, 


now almost exclusively represented by the server 
or acolyte, answer: Deo gratias! The words are 
found in St. Paul. Writing to the Corinthians, the 
Apostle says, towards the end of his letter: 
Deo autem gratias, qui dedit nobis victoriam per 
Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum.2 And again: 
Deo autem gratias, qui semper triumphat nos in 
Christo Jesu. Deo gratias has become one of the 
most frequent of the exclamations, or acclamations, 
which Holy Church uses in her Liturgy. It is said 
not only at the end of the Epistle, or Lesson, but 
likewise after the capitulum, and it is the response 
of the people to the invitation of the priest when, 
at the end of the Hours of the Divine Office, he 
bids them bless God: Benedicamus Domino. R. 
Deo gratias! 

The exclamation, Deo gratias, is of hoary anti- 
quity. We might say that it is one of those ejacula- 
tory prayers which were frequently on the lips of 
the early Christians. In the words of Cardinal 
Pitra (quoted by Dom Cabrol), “in these primitive 
chants was reflected all that was most simple, most 
expressive, most familiar. . . . These acclamations 


Pl Core xv .57. 
10 JT Cor., ii. 14. 


88 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


of the people, these cries of the Christian soul, have 
come down to us through the ages from the early 
Christians, and still form a link between the 
Churches of the East and West.. Even to this day 
the sun never rises without hearing the same words 
uttered in the midst of the same mysteries.” 

In his forty-first Epistle, St. Augustine writes to 
Bishop Aurelius, thanking him for allowing simple 
priests to preach in his presence. As is well known, 
in those early days the preaching of the Word of 
God was reserved exclusively to bishops. When St. 
Augustine, as yet a simple priest, began to preach 
instead of his bishop, no small sensation was caused. 
“What better thing,” says the holy Doctor, “can we 
bear in mind, utter with the mouth, or write with 
the pen, than ‘Deo gratias’? It is not possible to 
say aught shorter, to hear aught sweeter, to under- 
stand aught grander, to do aught that could be more 
profitable’ (Quid melius et animo geramus, et ore 
promamus, etcalamo exprimamus quam Deo gratias? 
Hoc nec dict brevius, nec audiri letius, nec intelligt 
grandius, nec agi fructuosius potest).” 

In his Commentary on Psalm cxxti, the same Doc- 
tor tells us that the monks of those days greeted 
each other with the words Deo gratias; whereas the 
Circumcellions used to say Deo laudes instead: 
‘He who says: Deo gratias! gives thanks to God. 
See whether a brother ought not to return thanks 
to God when he sees his brother. Is it not matter 
for congratulation when they meet who abide in 


11 Liturgical Prayer, p. 52. 
12 Toc. cit. 


THE EPISTLE AND DEO GRATIAS 89 


Christ? Yet you scoff at our Deo gratias! but men 
weep because of your Deo laudes!” (Qui dicit 
‘Deo gratias, gratias agit Deo. .Vide si non debeat 
frater Deo gratias agere, quando videt fratrem 
suum. Num enim non est locus gratulationis quando 
se invicem vident qui habitant in Christo? Et tamen 
vos ‘Deo gratias’ nostrum ridetis: ‘Deo laudes’ 
vesirum plorant homines).* The greeting, Deo 
gratias, distinguished the orthodox Christian from 
the heretic. | 

In the sixth century St. Benedict ordained that 
the door-keeper of the monastery should exclaim 
Deo gratias, as soon as he had heard the “knock 
of a caller, or the cry of a poor man.” * 

So popular was our ejaculation that a holy bishop 
of Carthage took it as his Christian name. Thus, 
year after year on the twenty-first day of March, 
we read in the Roman Martyrology the announce- 
ment for the following day of the feast of St. Deo- 
gratias, who brought back into the true fold many 
Arian Vandals, 


13 Enarrat. in Ps. cxxxit, 6. 
14 Regula, LXVI. 


CHAPTER X 
The Gradual, Tract and Sequence 


§ 1. The Gradual. 


HE Gradual follows immediately upon the 
Epistle. ‘The Gradual, as we now find it in 
our Missal, is composed of only two psalm verses, 
but originally a whole psalm was sung between the 
reading of the Epistle and the Gospel. The inter- 
spersing of singing with reading is a very early 
innovation, and was introduced for the purpose of 
renewing and sustaining the interest of the faithful 
during the long hours of divine worship. 

There is no doubt that the Gradual was sung 
as a psalmus responsorius; that is to say, a deacon 
(or cantor) sang each verse, and the people re- 
peated the first verse (or some other acclamation) 
after every verse sung. We see this already prac- 
tised by the Synagogue, the classical instance being 
Psalm cxxxv: 

Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus: 
Quoniam in aternum misericordia ejus, 


Confitemini Deo deorum: 
Quoniam in eternum misericordia ejus: 1 


1“Praise the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for 
ever. 
“Praise ye the God of Gods: for His mercy endureth for ever.” 


go 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE 91 


and so on throughout its twenty-six verses, when 
the whole of the first verse is once more repeated. 
St. Augustine speaks very definitely of the singing 
of a Gradual consisting of an entire psalm: Primum 
lectionem audivimus Apostoli . . . deinde canta- 
vimus psalmum, exhortantes nos invicem una voce, 
uno corde dicentes: ‘Venite adoremus,” ... Post 
hec evangelica lectio decem leprosos mundatos nobis 
ostendit (First we heard the lesson of the Apostle 

. then we sang a psalm, exhorting one another 
by saying with one voice and one heart: ‘Come, let 
us adore.’ After that the lesson from the Gospel 
showed us ten lepers made clean) .? 

From about the time of St. Gregory the Great, 
the Gradual became reduced to only two psalm 
verses. There are even a few Graduals of which 
the text is not from the book of psalms, or even 
from the Bible. 

It is called Gradual, because it was customary to 
sing it on the ambo (gradus), where the lessons 
also were read. Like the Epistle, it was sung by 
only one cantor, the people only taking up the last 
neums of the melody, as we do to this day. Until 
the time of St. Gregory, the rule was that the deacon 
alone had the right to sing the Gradual. Duchesne 
cites some epitaphs in which deacons allude to this 
privilege of theirs. One good bishop assures us 
that his people raised him to episcopal honors in 
acknowledgment of his beautiful singing: 


Psallere et in populis volut, moderante propheta, 
Sic merui plebem Christi retinere sacerdos. 


2Sermo clxxvt, 


92 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


The great liturgist of the sixth century, witnessing 
the abuses to which this custom not unfrequently 
led, abolished the exclusive privilege of deacons in 
this matter. It did not seem right that a man should 
be raised to the diaconate solely or mainly because 
he had a good voice, or could sing. 

The singing of the Gradual is a very ancient prac- 
tice of the Church; in fact, it is as old as the reading 
of the lessons. Duchesne warns us not to put the 
Gradual on the same footing as the other chants of 
the Mass, such as the Introit and others, which were 
only introduced in order to occupy the attention of 
the people during long ceremonies. The Gradual 
is sung or said for its own sake. During that time 
both celebrant and people have nothing to do but 
listen, though of course, in our days, the celebrant 
must read the Gradual, even though it is sung by 
the cantors. 

The Gradual is generally inspired by the feast 
or the character of the liturgical season. This is 
emphatically true of the Gradual of Easter-day: 
Hac dies quam fecit Dominus: exultemus et letemur 
in ea. This verse, which we might describe as the 
chorus or refrain, is followed by the first verse of 
Psalm exvii: Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus: 
quoniam in seculum misericordia ejus. ‘Then Hec 
dies may be repeated, according to the rubrics of 
the Vatican Graduale (xv, 4), in order to make it 
once more a psalmus responsorialis (juxta ritum 
responsialem, quando magis id videtur opportunum, 
post versum a solis cantoribus aut a cantore exple- 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE 93 


tum, cunctt repetunt primam partem responsorii 
usque ad versum). 

The words, Hac dies, are the ees of every 
Gradual in Easter week, the verse being always 
from the same Psalm cxvil. Easter-day is indeed 
a day on which it behoves us all to rejoice. ‘Let 
none withhold himself from the universal joy be- 
cause of the consciousness of sin: for on this day 
the sinner must not despair of pardon . . . if a thief 
merited paradise, shall not a Christian merit for- 
giveness?’’ § | 


§ 2. The Alleluia. 


Alleluia, like Amen, is now an acclamation or 
exclamation, a kind of ejaculatory prayer of the 
Old Law, which has remained untranslated, in order 
that its very strangeness may impress the mind all 
the more forcibly. Alleluia (Praise ye Jehovah), 
originally two words, occurs most frequently in the 
Psalms. Very soon it became, as it were, one word, 
signifying joyful praise of God. It is a cry of Joy. 
Thus, for instance, in Tobias, when the inspired 
writer describes the glory of the Jerusalem above, 
of which the splendor of the earthly city is but the 
faint image, he asserts: ‘‘All its streets shall be 
paved with white and clean stones: and Alleluia shall 
be sung in its streets.”’ * 

Psalms cxii-cxvii were called by the Jews the great 
Hallel, and the singing of them was one of the fea- 


3 §t. Ambrose, Hom. ii in Pasch. 
*Tob., xiii. 22, 


94 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


tures of the ceremonial supper of the Pasch. In the 
Apocalypse, St. John hears the heavenly choirs, and 
the burden of their song is Alleluia. “I heard, as 
it were, the voice of much people in heaven, saying: 
Alleluia, Salvation, and glory, and power is to our 
GodacrevAnd’ again) ‘they saidsmailelgia See 
And the four and twenty ancients, and the four liv- 
ing creatures fell down and adored God. . . say- 
ing: Amen; Alleluia.” ° 

In the Latin Church, Alleluia was at first sung 
only at Easter and during the Paschal time. When 
it came to be said during other parts of the year, 
it nevertheless ceased at the beginning of the peni- 
tential season. St. Augustine has left us some elo- 
quent homilies on the Alleluia. From them we learn 
how the Christian people looked forward to the 
Alleluia of Easter. “Alleluia,” he says, “‘is the con- 
solation of our journey through this life. Now 
Alleluia cheers us on the way. ... We journey 
over a rough road towards our peaceful country, 
where, all other endeavors being set aside, our one 
occupation shall be to sing Alleluia” (Tendimus autem 
per viam laboriosam ad quietam patriam, ubi, retrac- 
tis omnibus actionibus nostris, non remanebit nisi 
Alleluia).® And again: O felix illic Alleluia! o 
secural o sine adversario! ubi nemo erit inimicus, 
nemo perit amicus! Ibi laudes Deo, et hic laudes 
Deo: sed hic a solicitis, 1b1 a securis; hic a morituris, 
ibia semper viventibus; hic in spe, ibiin re; hic in via, 


illic in patria (O the blissful Alleluia of heaven! 


5 Apoc., xix. 1, 3, 4. 
6 Sermo, cclv, x. 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE 95 


how secure! without adversary! Where there shall 
be no enemy; and where we shall miss no friend! 
There we give praise to God, and here also we give 
praise to God: but here it is given by anxious ones, 
there by secure ones; here it is given by them that 
shall some day die, there by them that shall live for 
evermore; here we praise God in hope, there in 
actual possession; here we praise Him on our pil- 
grimage, there in our home).’ 

St. Benedict, when ordering the daily task of 
praise and prayer, prescribes a frequent repetition of 
Alleluia, and in Paschal time he commands that it 
should be said continually (sine intermissione ).* 

St. Gregory the Great, on hearing of the conver- 
sion of the Angles, was transported with joy. In 
one of his homilies of that period, he expresses his 
delight at the thought that a people, who hitherto 
had only emitted barbarous sounds, had now learned 
to say the Hebrew Alleluia: Ecce lingua Brittania, 
que nil aliud noverat quam barbarum frendere, jam 
dudum in divinis laudibus hebraum cepit Alleluia 
resonare.° 

So popular was the sacred word, Alleluia, that it 
was with keen regret that the faithful saw them- 
selves deprived of it at the beginning of the peni- 
tential season. Many churches bade an elaborate 
farewell to this heavenly chant. The church of 
Autun had a complete Office in which the word Alle- 
luia recurred again and again. The Collect of this 


7 Sermo cclvt, 3. 
8 Regula, XV. 
® Moral., XXVII, 8. 


96 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Office is as follows: ‘O God, who permittest us to 
celebrate the solemnity of the suspension of the Alle- 
luia, grant that we may sing Alleluia for ever more 
in bliss, together with Thy Saints, who sing Alleluia 
in eternal happiness.”’ 

The Alleluia is repeated twice. ‘This repetition, 
according to Durandus, symbolizes the twofold 
glorification to which we look forward—that of our 
soul and body. At the end of the versicle yet a third 
Alleluia is said. The verse itself is generally a psalm 
verse, and its choice is frequently inspired by the 
character of the feast or the time of year. Some 
Alleluia versicles are taken from other sources than 
the Bible, like that of Pentecost, for instance, or that 
of the Mass of Sts. John and Paul, which last is sung 
at the Mass of Martyrs who are also brothers: Hee 
est vera fraternitas. The Alleluia verse of Easter 
Sunday is St. Paul’s triumphant cry that “Christ our 
Pasch 1s sacrificed.” 

Alleluia is a cry that should naturally and fre- 
quently rise from the heart of the priest. ‘To praise 
God is his principal duty. This duty is sadly neg- 
lected in this modern world. Men do not, perhaps, 
blaspheme God; they just forget Him, and are wholly 
indifferent where He is concerned. Let the priest’s 
voice rise frequently to the throne of God in acknow'- 
edgment of His wonderful deeds. Alleluia will 
faithfully express our loving gratitude, our praise 
and admiration of Him whom “angels and arch- 
angels praise together with cherubim and seraphim’” 
in the splendors of the heavenly city. 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE 97 
Sg mel hey iract. 


On certain occasions of a penitential nature, the 
Alleluia is omitted, and its place is taken by a Tract, 
or second psalm (psalmus tractatus). Such days are 
the Ember Days out of Paschal time, Requiem 
Masses, and all days from Septuagesima until Holy 
Saturday. On the latter day, however, the Tract 
follows upon the Alleluia, which has been only just 
restored to us after the long silence of Lent. The 
name is derived from some peculiarity in its musical 
execution—that 1s, it used to be sung rather slowly 
(trahendo), with a certain dignity and slowness of 
movement. 


§ 4. The Sequence. 


The Sequence follows close upon the Alleluia. It 
owes its origin to the long series of notes, to which 
the last syllable of that word is sung—the jubilus, 
as itis called. The jubilus is, according to St. Augus- 
tine, vox gquedam exultationis sine verbis, ita ut ap- 
pareat ... ipsa voce gaudere . . . quasi repletum 
nimio gaudio non posse explicare verbis quod gaudet 
(a joyful sound, without articulate words, so that the 
very voice shows forth joy—the joy of one who can- 
not utter in words the delight of his soul).*° 

‘When we sing, Alleluia, we rejoice rather than 
sing,’ says Rupert of Deutz, ‘and we hold one 
short syllable of this venerable word the while the 
voice sings several neums, that so the mind of the 


10 In Ps. xcix. 


98 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


listener may be filled with wonder, and raised to 
where the Saints shall rejoice in glory and shall be 
joyful in their beds.” * 

St. Bonaventure assigns the same reason to the 
prolonged melody of the last syllable of Alleluia: 
‘We are wont to sing many notes on the latter a 
which terminates Alleluia, because the joy of the 
Saints in heaven is interminable and ineffable.” * 

Great joy, like great sorrow, is inarticulate. Do 
we not likewise daily hear children sing by the hour 
without articulating a word? The apparently inar- 
ticulate jubilus of the Alleluia is but the manifesta- 
tion of the joy of God’s children rejoicing in spe, 
while waiting and longing for the day when they shall 
rejoice in re: “That joyful sound (jubilatio), which 
singers call sequence, brings to our mind that state 
when there will be no need of words for speech, but 
mind will commune with mind by a direct manifesta- 
tion of its innermost thoughts.” # 

The long-sustained singing of one syllable de- 
manded a great effort and much breath (pneuma in 
Greek); whence the transition to neuwm was easy. 
We must also bear in mind that the introduction of 
lines, or staves, is of comparatively recent date. The 
only musical notation known for many centuries con- 
sisted solely in certain signs, or accents, written above 
the text that was to be sung. When these accents 
were in great number, without any text, and only 
serving as an indication of how one syllable was to 


11 De div. off., I, 35. 
12 Expos. Miss., II. 
13 Amalar., De eccl. off., III, 16. 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE 99 


be drawn out or trilled, they proved a great strain 
on the singer’s memory, and differences in execution 
arose easily enough when the chant was performed 
by many. So already in the ninth century certain 
words came to be written under the notes, or neums, 
of the Alleluia jubilus. In other words, the jubilus 
came to be “‘farced.’”’ At first these additions were 
only prose compositions (hence their name, prosa). 
From the twelfth century these ‘proses’? became 
more elaborate; in fact, they vied with the more 
stately hymns of the Church, though always retain- 
ing their native simplicity and a naive homeliness 
both in conception and expression. 

The earliest composer of sequences (so called be- 
cause they follow upon the Alleluia) appears to be 
Notker Balbulus, a monk of the celebrated Abbey 
of St. Gall, who died in 912. He took the idea from 
a monk who had come to St. Gall from Jumiéges in 
Normandy. This monk had with him an office book 
in which words had been written under each of the 
notes, or at least under each neum, of the Alleluia 
jubilus, probably merely to assist the memory of the 
cantors. ‘This was enough to inspire Notker with 
the idea of a number of lengthy compositions, all of 
which were but a development, sequence, and expres- 
sion of those feelings of holy joy which had been 
excited by the singing of the Alleluia. 

Sequences became exceedingly popular in the Mid- 
dle Ages, at least in England, France and Germany. 
Rome was very slow in admitting them, and Spain 
never did so at all. The composition of sequences 
became at one time the fashion. They were com- 


100 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


posed not only for use at Mass, but for other occa- 
sions as well. 

The best and most popular author of sequences is 
undoubtedly Adam of St. Victor (twelfth century). 
His sequences strike at times a very solemn note; he 
maintains a high level both of thought and expres- 
sion, and rarely, if ever, falls into the platitudes and 
trivialities which disfigure many such compositions 
of that period. Guéranger calls him the greatest 
poet of the Middle Ages. ‘The exquisite art and 
variety with which his verse is managed and his 
rhymes disposed, their rich melody . . . most of all, 
the evident nearness of the things which he celebrates 
to his own heart of hearts—all these and other ex- 
cellencies render him, as far as my judgment goes, 
the foremost among the sacred Latin poets of the 
Middle Ages. He may have no single poem to vie 
with the austere beauty of the Dies ire, nor yet with 
the tearful passion of the Stabat Mater . . . but 
then it must not be forgotten that these stand well 
nigh alone in the name of their respective authors.”’ * 
The best edition of Adam’s work is Gautier’s, who 
published 106 sequences, which he proves to be from 
the pen of the Victorine. In 1881 the Rev. Digby 
Wrangham, M.A., a Yorkshire clergyman, published 
these sequences, together with a very fine translation 
in which the meter and rhymes of the original are 
preserved as far as this is possible. Whatever we 
may think of medieval poetry, assuredly the work of 
Adam of St. Victor deserves to be better known than 
it is. ‘[o mention it only in passing, our popular 


14 Archibishop Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry. 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE tor 


hymn books would be very much rejuvenated and 
rendered more interesting were we to draw upon 
this rich storehouse of melodious verse for the entire 
cycle of the Church’s calendar. 

In the Roman Missal of today only five sequences 
survive out of the immense number of such composi- 
tions which have come down to us from the Middle 
Ages. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) decided 
on a reform or revision of the Missal of the Latin 
Church, with a view to a return to pristine simplicity 
and, if possible, uniformity throughout the Latin 
Rite. A commission was appointed, but it terminated 
its labors only during the pontificate of Pius V. On 
July 14, 1570, the holy Pontiff published the Bull 
which we still read at the beginning of our Missals. 
It commands that “Mass shall be sung or said ac- 
cording to the rite, manner and standard which is 
given in this Missal, nor in celebrating shall anyone 
dare to add or recite other ceremonies or prayers 
than those that are contained herein.” The ideal 
that the commission steadily kept before its eyes was 
a return to sober and stately antiquity. So the ornate 
accretions of the later centuries of the Middle Ages 
went by the board, and with them the innumerable 
proses and sequences which had ended by unduly 
lengthening the Mass without any compensating ad- 
dition to its beauty or impressiveness; all were re- 
jected but five, but these are undoubtedly the best, 
and worthy to be retained. They were retained solely 
on their intrinsic merits, not at all with a view to 
lending an added solemnity to the days on which they 
are recited. The five are: the sequences of Easter 


102 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


(Victime paschali), Pentecost (Veni Sancte Spiri- 
tus), and Corpus Christi (Lauda Sion), the Stabat 
Mater and the Dies ire. The Victime paschali is 
the work of Wipo, chaplain to the Emperors Conrad 
Il and Henry III, and thus dates back to the eleventh 
century. 

The Veni Sancte Spiritus has been attributed to 
various authors, but it is now almost beyond doubt 
that it was composed by the great Pope Innocent III. 

St. Thomas is, of course, the author of the Lauda 
Sion. 

The ever-popular Stabat Mater is the work of 
Jacopone da Todi. After the death of his wife, 
Jacopone, who had been a lawyer, became a member 
of the Franciscan Order, and as such led a most 
austere and holy life. In his contempt of all things 
worldly he castigated rather too freely the manners 
of monks and priests and even Popes. At one time 
he was excommunicated by Boniface VIII, whose 
opponent he had been. He died a most holy death 
in the year 1306, in the midnight hour of Christ’s 
Nativity, as the priest at the altar was intoning the 
Gloria in excelsis Deo. By the end of the same cen- 
tury the Stabat Mater was exceedingly popular, 
though it found a place in the Roman Missal only 
in 1727, when Benedict XIII extended to the univer- 
sal Church the Feast of the Seven Dolors of Our 
Lady. 

The Dies ire is rightly attributed to Thomas of 
Celano, the friend and first biographer of St. Francis. 
Originally an extra-liturgical poem describing the 
terrors of the last day of the world, it became the 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE 103 


sequence of Requiem Masses as early as the 
thirteenth century. The last verses, beginning with 
Lacrymosa dies illa, were added to the original poem 
in order to render it more suitable to its new use. 

Our Easter sequence, as we have seen, is the com- 
position of the chaplain of Conrad II and Henry III. 
Apparently, he is the author not only of the text, 
but likewise of the noble melody to which it is sung. 
In respect of the latter, we may make our own the 
words of Dr. Fortescue: “The clanging melody 
(like the blare of trumpets) is one of the very finest 
pieces of plainsong that we have. It seems the per- 
fect musical expression of Easter, and its immemorial 
connection with the words makes it almost incredible 
that anyone should ever want to replace it by a 
modern composition.” *° 

During the Middle Ages, our Sequence was used 
in many places for a dramatic presentment of the 
mystery of the Resurrection. Choir boys, represent- 
ing the Angels, Mary Magdalen and the other holy 
women, went to the Easter sepulchre at the end of 
Matins, singing a dialogue referring to the various 
episodes of the early hours of the first Easter Sun- 
day. Into this dialogue were woven the verses of 
the Victime paschali, the whole being followed by 
the singing of the Te Deum and the solemn office of 
Lauds. 

The first strophes of our Sequence call upon Chris- 
tians to praise the paschal Victim, that guileless Lamb 
who has brought about a reconciliation between us 
sinners and our.outraged Father. We have here an 


15 The Mass, p. 276, note. 


104 PRIEST; AT THE, ALTAR 


allusion to Apoc., v. 6: “And I saw... a lamb 
standing, as rit) were (slain )i iy) And agama 
Apoc., v. 9: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to take the 
book and to open the seals thereof: because Thou 
wast slain and hast redeemed us to God in Thy 
Bloody 


Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando, 
Dux vite mortuus regnat vivus.3° 


The tremendous single combat of Christ, the 
“author of salvation (in Greek épxyyés, dux, prince), 
ended apparently in the discomfiture of the Lord of 
life. But His very defeat was for Him the hour 
of victory, and, in the moment when death seemed 
to triumph, death was swallowed up in victory (ab- 
sorpta est mors in victoria). “I am the First and 
the Last, and alive and was dead, and behold | am 
living for ever and ever, and have the keys of death 
and hell.’ 7") Dux vite mortuus regnat vivus! 

Turning abruptly to Mary Magdalen, the poet bids 
her relate what befell her on the way and what she 
saw at the sepulchre. The “‘apostle of the Apostles” 
replies by narrating how she found the tomb empty, 
how angels proclaimed His Resurrection, above all 
that she has seen the glory of the risen Saviour (et 
gloriam vidi resurgentis). Finally, she breaks forth 
into a sublime confession of faith at a moment when 
the Apostles were still wavering (Surrexit Christus 
spes mea), at the same time reminding the Eleven 

16 “Tn this great triumph death and life 
Together met in wondrous strife, 


The Prince of Life, once dead, doth reign.” 
17 Apoc., i. 17, 18. 


THE GRADUAL, TRACT AND SEQUENCE 105 


of the words of the Master: “After I shall be risen 
again, I will go before you into Galilee.” ™ 

Finally, speaking in the name of the Church, the 
poet also proclaims his faith in the fundamental mys- 
tery of our religion: 


Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere.19 


The revisers having definitely dropped the lines with 
which our Sequence concluded during many centuries, 


Credendum est magis soli Maria veract 
Quam Judeorum turbe fallaci,?° 


we now end on a note of humble supplication to our 
glorious King: 


Tu nobis, victor, Rex, miserere.21 


“Tf,” says St. Ambrose, ‘“‘Christ is merciful to the 
thief in the hour of His crucifixion, He will be even 
more inclined to mercy towards the Christian in the 
hour of His Resurrection. If in the hour of His 
humiliation He conferred so great a boon upon him 
who confessed His Divinity, what will not the glory 
of the Resurrection procure for us?” Largior enim 
ad prestandum solet esse, sicut ipsi scitis, leta vic- 
toria, quam addicta caplivitas,” 


18 Mark, xiv. 28. 

19 “We know that Christ is risen indeed.” 

20 “We should credit the simple testimony of truthful Mary rather 
than the deceitful crowd of Jews.” 

21“Thou, Victor King, have mercy on us.” 

22 How, du in Pasch., 2. 


CHAPTER XI 
The Gospel and Homily or Sermon 
§ x. The Gospel. 


| Pie reading of the Gospel constitutes the climax 
of the first part of the Mass—the Mass of the 
Catechumens, which is made up of prayers and care- 
fully selected passages (pericopes) of our holy 
Books of both the Old and the New Testaments. 
Our English word gospel, from the Anglo-Saxon god 
(good) and spell (tell, speak), has the same mean- 
ing as the Greek «veyyedtov, and signifies glad tidings, 
good news. Our Lord Himself took the word in 
that sense. On His first public appearance in the 
synagogue of Nazareth at the beginning of His pub- 
lic ministry, ‘‘He rose up to read,” and, the Book 
of Isaias the Prophet having been handed to Him, 
He unfolded the volume and read the passage ap- 
pointed for the day, which was as follows: “The 
spirit of the Lord is upon Me, wherefore He hath 
anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor 
(evayyeAtcacOa).”’ t 

The Gospel is primarily the spoken word—the 
preaching of the kingdom of God which has come. 
‘Go ye into the whole world,” the Master said, ‘‘and 
preach the gospel to every creature.” ? ‘The preach- 

1 Luke, iv. 16-18. 

2 Mark, xvi. 15. 

106 


THE GOSPEL AND THE HOMILY 107 


ing of the Apostles is “the gospel of salvation.” ° 
St. Paul is “called to be an apostle, separated unto 
the gospel of God, which he had promised before, 
by His prophets, in the holy scriptures.’ * Hence 
he declares to the Galatians that “the gospel which 
was preached by me is not according to man.’’® 

However, the spoken word was very soon to be 
supplemented by the written word. Though the 
Apostles were primarily bidden to go forth into the 
world, not to write, but to preach the Gospel, it was 
found expedient—and the Holy Ghost prompted 
some of those who ‘from the beginning were eye- 
witnesses and ministers of the word’’—to write down 
what they had seen or heard, or to dictate it to 
others, such as St. Mark and St. Luke. Thus, the 
ipsissima verba (very words) of the Word of life 
have been handed down to us, “upon whom the ends 
of the world have come.”’ “From none other have 
we learned the scheme of our salvation, than from 
those through whom the Gospel has come down to 
us; this they first delivered orally, but afterwards, 
by the will of God, handed down to us in writing.” ° 
Just as there is but one Lord, one Faith, one Bap- 
tism, so there is but one Gospel. St. Irenezus speaks 
of evayyediov TET papoppov-——one Gospel under four dif- 
ferent aspects, or presentments. “Jn quatuor evan- 
geliis, vel potius quatuor libris unius Evangeli”’ (In 
four Gospels, or rather four books of one Gospel), 
says St. Augustine. 


3 Eph., 1. 13. 
4‘Rom,,+i).1,.2. 02 
5 Rom., 1. 11. 


6 St. Irenzus, Adv. Heres., Ill. 11. 


108 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


The custom of reading the sacred text of the 
Gospel during the liturgical services of the Church 
is of very ancient date. In fact, we must trace it 
back to apostolic days. It is clear that St. Luke’s 
Gospel was read throughout the Church, St. Paul 
himself being a witness to it: “We have sent also 
with him [Titus] the brother, whose praise is in the 
gospel through all the churches.”’* This brother is 
not St. Barnabas, as the Greeks hold, but St. Luke. 
This is proved by a text of St. Ignatius of Antioch, 
also by St. Jerome. Eusebius tells us in his “Ec- 
clesiastical History” ® that St. Mark composed his 
Gospel at the request of the Romans, who asked to 
have a written record of the preaching and teaching 
of St. Peter, whose disciple Mark was. St. Peter, 
delighted with the eagerness of his converts, is said 
to have given his approval to the volume, which was 
to be read consecutively in the churches (ut deinceps 
in ecclesius legeretur). ‘Yo this fact witness is borne 
by Clement in his “‘Institutions,’’ and by Papias of 
Therapolis. 

It was natural to read the Gospel after the 
Prophets of the Old Law, or even the apostolic 
writers. They were but the heralds who prepared 
us for a worthy hearing of the voice of the Master 
Himself: “God, who at sundry times and in divers 
manners, spoke in times past to the Fathers, by the 
prophets, last of all in these days hath spoken to us 
by His Son.’ ® 


711 Cor., viii. 38. 
8 Book II, chapter 13. 
9 Heb., 1. 1, 2. 


THE GOSPEL AND THE HOMILY 109 


At first the Gospel was read, not merely in sec- 
tions as in our days (so that certain parts are never 
read at all and others constantly repeated), but was 
the object of lecito continua; that is, one of the 
Gospels was read right through, irrespective of the 
day or time of the year. When enough had been 
read for the day, the bishop (or presiding priest) 
gave the signal to the reader to stop, the reading 
being resumed where it had been left off at the 
next assembly. After peace had been granted to the 
Church, Pope Damasus was the first to organize the 
liturgical year, and to make a selection from the 
Sacred Books of passages which were more especially 
appropriate, either to the mystery celebrated or to 
the spirit of the season. ‘Thus arose our present-day 
pericopes. ‘These various texts were at first written 
in separate volumes. There were the Psalterium 
(containing only the Psalms), the Epistolarium 
(containing only the Epistles), the Sacramentarium 
(containing the rites and prayers of the Mass), and 
the Evangelarium (containing the sections of the 
Gospel appointed to be read on certain days). The 
Book of the Gospels, since it contained the words 
of Christ, was treated with the utmost reverence. It 
was generally beautifully written and sumptuously 
bound; in fact, reverence was rendered to it as to 
the person of Christ Himself. 

Originally, simple lectors read the Gospel, just as 
they read the other books of the Bible. From the 
fourth century onwards, however, the deacon has 
been the sole reader of the Gospel. At his ordina- 
tion the bishop tells him that ‘“‘a deacon should 


110 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


preach” (diaconum oportet ... predicare), by 
which we are to understand not only the office of 
instructing (or that of explaining the text of the 
Gospel), but also the solemn and ceremonial singing 
of the Sacred Text. Hence the Book of the Gospels 
is handed to him by the bishop, with power to sing 
the Gospel at Mass, -whether said for the living or 
the dead. 

At the Office of Matins on Christmas night, it was 
the privilege of the Emperor of the Holy Roman 
Empire to sing the Gospel which begins with the 
words: Exit edictum a Cesare Augusto (There 
went out a decree from Czsar Augustus). The 
Emperor, vested in a dalmatic, sang this Gospel, and 
before singing it he drew his sword and brandished 
it three times, thus signifying his readiness to fight 
in defence of the word of God. 

The Gospel is sung by the deacon (or read by the 
priest), facing North. ‘There is a deep mystical 
signification in this. According to Biblical symbolism, 
the cold darkness of the North is an image of 
spiritual darkness and desolation: ‘Howl, O gate; 
cry, O city . . . for a smoke shall come from the 
North, and there is none that shall escape his 
troop.” *° “Strengthen yourselves, stay not: for I 
bring evil from the North, and great destruction.” * 

Before the reading or singing of the Gospel, we 
recite a most beautiful and appropriate prayer, by 
which we prepare ourselves for the high office of 
acting as the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ. Sancta 


19 Js., xiv. 32. 
+1 Jer., iv. 6. 


THE GOSPEL AND THE HOMILY Lil 


sancte! seeing that we are about to utter, not our 
own words, or those of some great writer or poet, 
but the words of the Son of God. The prayer 
Munda cor meum is of comparatively recent origin, 
though not the blessing which follows it. The prayer 
alludes to one of the most striking scenes in the book 
of the visions of Isaias. “In the year that King 
Ozias died,” the Prophet “saw the Lord sitting upon 
a throne high and elevated,” and His glory ‘‘filled 
the temple.”’ And he heard the Seraphim crying to 
one another: “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of 
hosts, all the earth is full of His glory.” Then the 
awestruck Prophet, who had kept silence (for he 
durst not join in the song of the angels), exclaimed: 
‘Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because 
I am a man of unclean lips. . . . And one of the 
Seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live 
coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar. 
And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this 
hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be 
taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.”’ * 

When he reads or preaches the Gospel, the priest 
does not merely proclaim the judgments of God, or 
foretell impending punishments. His is a much 
higher office: he may even make his own the words 
first spoken of the mediator between God and man 
—the man Christ Jesus: ‘The spirit of the Lord 
is upon me; wherefore, He hath sent me to announce 
glad tidings. . . .”’ But how dare he take into his 
mouth the word of God, unless his lips shall first 


12JTs,, vi, x-8. 


18 be PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


have been purified, even as the Prophet's lips were 
cleansed by the messenger of God? So the rubric 
of the Missal (that is, the commandment of the 
Church) bids him stand in the middle of the altar, 
raise his eyes for a moment to heaven, and then at 
once bend low before the majesty of an all-holy God, 
while he recites the prayer that cleanses and purifies 
and makes him in a manner worthy to utter in his 
turn the words first spoken by the Word of life. 
When the Gospel is sung by a deacon, he kneels 
before the celebrant and asks his blessing, saying: 
Jube domne benedicere (Deign, sir, to grant thy 
blessing). Domnus is an abridgment of dominus 
(lord), and is only applied to man. When the priest 
himself asks the blessing, as he does at Low Mass, 
he says Jube Domine benedicere (Deign, O Lord, 
etc.), addressing God directly and asking Him for 
a blessing. Incidentally, we may remark on the ap- 
propriateness of the words of the blessing as an 
immediate preparation for the sermon, when the 
priest acts as a herald of glad tidings: ‘‘May the 
Lord be upon my lips and in my heart, that I may 
proclaim His Gospel [the divine message of glad 
tidings] worthily and suitably in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” 
The reading of the Gospel is always preceded by 
the apostolic salutation, Dominus vobiscum, and the 
announcement of the Evangelist from whom the 
pericope is taken. During the Gospel everybody 
stands, with head uncovered and turned either to- 
wards the altar or the place where the deacon sings 
the divine message. At the conclusion the server, 


THE GOSPEL AND THE HOMILY 113 


in the name of all, answers Laus tibi Christe. 
Formerly custom varied very much with regard to 
this final acclamation to Christ, who, through the 
Gospel, has spoken to His people. From the Rule 
of St. Benedict we learn that in his day (that is, 
during the fifth and the beginning of the sixth cen- 
turies) it was customary to answer “dimen,” thus 
expressing assent to what was read. The words of 
the great legislator of monks, whose Rule is so im- 
portant a source of liturgical information, may well 
be quoted here as being applicable to all, both priest 
and people. St. Benedict speaks of the Gospel which, 
in the Monastic Breviary, is read at the end of 
Matins: Legat Abbas lectionem de Evangelio, cum 
honore et tremore stantibus omnibus, qua perlecta, 
respondeant omnes: “Amen” (Let the Abbot read 
the lesson from the Gospel, while all stand in awe 
and reverence. Whenit has been read, let all answer: 
Amen). 

When the priest has read the Gospel, he reverently 
kisses the sacred text, except in Masses for the dead. 
The liturgical kiss is an expression of reverence and 
love for Christ, who is represented by the sacred 
text. Hence arose the custom in the Middle Ages 
of carrying the text of the Gospel in the procession 
of Psalm Sunday. Sanctum Evangelium, quod in- 
telligitur Christus, statuitur in ecclesia ante aram 
(The Holy Gospel, by which is understood Christ, 
is placed in the Church before the altar), says the 
twelfth Ordo Romanus. 


114 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


§ 2. The Homily or Sermon. 


Immediately after the reading of the Gospel fol- 
lows the sermon. This is one of the oldest Christian 
customs, so that the Ceremoniale Episcoporum or- 
dains that Sermo regulariter infra Muissam esse 
debet, de Evangelio currenti (The sermon, as a rule, 
should be preached during the Mass, and about the 
current Gospel—viz. the Gospel of the day). In 
the early centuries the bishop himself invariably ad- 
dressed the assembly in a familiar discourse (épAd), 
based on the passage of the Gospel just read. The 
great bulk of the discourses and addresses left to 
us by the Fathers is formed of these simple explana- 
tions of the Scriptures. We learn from the Acts of 
the Apostles** that already in apostolic days the 
sermon was part of the Liturgy: ‘On the first day 
of the week, when we assembled to break bread [that 
is, for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist], Paul 
discoursed with them [the Church of Troas], and 
he continued his speech until midnight.” ‘When 
the reader pauses,’ says St. Justin Martyr, “the 
president addresses the people, exhorting them to 
imitate the beautiful things they have heard.” 

We may conclude from this remark of Justin that 
not only the Gospel, but the Epistle also, may 
legitimately form the subject-matter of our dis- 
courses. It would certainly not be right habitually 
to set aside both Epistle and Gospel in our Sunday 


43 Acts, xx. 7. 
14 Apol., II. 


THE GOSPEL AND THE HOMILY 115 


morning discourses in favor of, let us say, “topics 
of the day.” The sacred text has a virtue all its 
own, and our people love to hear it. The more a 
priest is like Apollo potens in scripturis (powerful 
in the Scriptures), the greater the efhcacy of his 
words. ‘The Gospel is capable of many interpreta- 
tions. The Fathers loved allegorical explanations 
and adaptations, often more ingenious than convinc- 
ing. The Homilies of St. Augustine and St. Gregory 
the Great are conspicuous examples of this latter 
mode of treatment. In our own days we prefer 
sober reality to elaborate symbolism. If we wish to 
be truly eloquent, let our doctrinal statements be in 
the words of the Gospel or the apostolic writings, 
and let our moral exhortations invariably be based 
on the text of the sacred volume. 

Since, by way of illustration, we have been study- 
ing the text of the Mass of Easter Sunday, let us 
also look at its Gospel. It may be treated either 
allegorically or historically. The Homily of St. 
Gregory the Great, which is read at Matins, is an 
example of the former mode of exposition. Our 
people will be more interested if we point out to 
them that our Gospel is obviously a narrative of an 
historical event, every detail of which is calculated 
to emphasize the reality of the fundamental fact of 
the Christian religion. Jesum queritis Nazarenum, 
crucifixum: surrexit, non est hic, ecce locus ubi 
posuerunt eum (You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who 
was crucified: He is risen, He is not here; behold 
the place where they laid Him). What force there 
is in that marvellous antithesis: “The crucified: He 


116 PRIEST VAT THE ALTAR 


is risen—He is no longer here, you only see the place 
where they laid His dead body, but go, tell Peter 
and the others that soon they shall behold Him in 
Galilee, according as He told them.” 


CHAPTER XII 
The Credo 


ff eS Credo forms, as it were, a bridge between 
two clearly marked-off parts of the Mass; 
namely, the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass 
of the Faithful. ‘The recitation of the Credo during 
the Holy Sacrifice is of comparatively recent institu- 
tion. It certainly was not part of the early Liturgies 
in either East or West. The Mass of the Catechu- 
mens always ended with the sermon or homily, which 
followed the public reading of the Gospel. Up to 
that moment Catechumens and baptized Christians 
prayed together. But no sooner was the homily or 
exhortation of the bishop ended, than the aspirants 
to Baptism were bidden to leave the sacred edifice, 
and not only they but all penitents and such as were 
not permitted to take part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. 

We see a curious illustration of this in a story 
related by St. Gregory the Great in his life of St. 
Benedict. The Pontiff tells us how St. Benedict had 
warned two nuns of noble birth that, unless they 
bridled their tongues by which they sorely tried the 
patience of the religiosus vir (religious man) who 
looked after them, he would feel compelled to ex- 
communicate them. But they took no heed of the 
Saint’s warning. Now, when both died within the 

117 


118 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


space of a few days, they were buried within the 
sacred edifice. But it came to pass that, whenever 
the Holy Sacrifice happened to be offered in that 
church, at the moment when the deacon cried out 
that those who did not communicate (that is, were 
not in full communion with the Church) should 
leave, the nurse of these two women, who was wont 
to offer the oblation for them (que pro eis obla- 
tionem offerre consueverat), saw them come out of 
their graves and leave the church. When this was 
related to St. Benedict, he had an offering made in 
their behalf with wonderful effects: Que dum oblatio 
pro eis fuisset immolata, et a diacono juxia morem 
clamatum est, ut non communicantes ab ecclesia 
exirent, ille exire ab ecclesia ulterius vise non sunt 
(When the offering was made at the altar and the 
deacon cried out, according to custom, that those 
who were not in communion with the Church should 
leave the building, these two were no longer seen to 
depart from thé sacred edifice). 

This story is of great interest, inasmuch as it 
clearly supposes an elaborate, well-established Lit- 
urgy divided into two separate sections—one in 
which all might take part, and another to which only 
full membership with the Church could give admit- 
tance. The Mass of the Catechumens was, there- 
fore, immediately followed by that of the faithful, 
and began with the oblation of the elements that 
were to be changed into the Flesh and Blood of the 
Lamb of God and restored to the faithful, as such, 
at the Communion of the Mass. 

The public and solemn profession of faith, in the 


THE CREDO 119 


words of the Creed, comes very appropriately at the 
conclusion of the prayers and readings which form 
the preliminaries of the Sacrifice. When the faithful 
have listened to the word of God as contained in 
the pages of the Old and New Testament, it comes 
almost as a spontaneous act to proclaim aloud the 
faith that is within us. The mysteries, also, in which 
we are about to take part, are, above all others, a 
matter of faith (mysterium fidei). Hence, it is but 
natural that, besides professing our belief in the 
reality of Christ’s Body and Blood, we should like- 
wise confess those other truths which form a golden 
chain in which the Eucharist is the most precious 
link. 

From the earliest days of Christianity, the recita- 
tion of the Creed formed an integral part of the 
rite of Baptism. The possession and profession of 
the Symbol was to the soldier of Christ what the 
military symbolum (watchword, consigne in French) 
was to the soldier in Cesar’s army. Just as soldiers 
recognize each other by the exchange of the watch- 
word, so are we known to belong to the one flock 
or army of Jesus Christ by the external profession 
of the same faith. The Symbolum is our common 
bond of union. 

The Creed is a complete, though not necessarily 
an explicit, statement of the truths of our religion. 
It aims necessarily at terseness and conciseness, since 
it is in the nature of a watchword. It must, there- 
fore, be fairly easy to commit to memory. This is 
all the more so, as during long centuries there was 
no written Creed: it was handed down from genera- 


120 PRIEST OAC DEIR A Ts ba 


tion to generation by an unbroken oral tradition. 
This was done in order to safeguard the faith of the 
Church from corruption, and was part of that policy 
of secrecy (the famous disciplina arcani), which the 
Church applied during several centuries: /n symbolo 
fidet et spei nostra, quod ab Apostolis traditum, non 
scribitur in charta et atramento, sed in tabulis cordis 
carnalibus (As regards the symbol of our faith and 
hope, which has been handed down from the time 
of the Apostles, it is written not with paper and ink, 
but is engraved upon the fleshly tablets of our 
hearts) .* 

One of the chief occupations of the clergy during 
the whole time of Lent was the instruction of the 
Catechumens. On several occasions during its course 
there were special meetings for them (plenary ses- 
sions, so to speak), of which the Lenten Liturgy 
retains traces to this very day. One of these special 
meetings was for the precise purpose of making 
known the text of the Symbolum—the ceremony be- 
ing called traditio symboli. 

The earliest and most venerable of the various 
Creeds that have been or still are in use in the 
Church, is that which is called the Apostles’ Creed. 
Tradition has it that, ere they parted from one 
another in pursuance of the divine command that 
bade them go forth into all the world to make of 
all men their disciples, the twelve Apostles framed 
a succinct statement of the glorious faith they were 


about to preach, and eventually to seal with their 
blood. 


1$t. Jerome, Ep. ad Pammach. 


THE CREDO Pon 


Tertullian (about the end of the second century 
or the beginning of the third) gives us, not indeed 
a complete text, but a full summary of this apostolic 
“tablet of the faith” (tessera fidei): ‘The rule of 
faith is absolutely one, immutable, unalterable; it is 
this: We must believe in one only God, Creator of 
the world, and in His Son Jesus Christ, born of the 
Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, who 
rose from the dead on the third day, who ascended 
into heaven, and is now seated at the right hand of 
the Father, and will come to judge the living and 
the dead, at the resurrection of the body.” ? 

We need attach no undue importance to the 
legendary accounts of the formulation of the 
Apostles’ Creed, for the important fact is that the 
Church has always used some formula by which her 
children were able to recognize one another. 

During more than three hundred years (that is, 
until the First General Council), the Apostles’ Creed 
was the only one in use. The 318 Fathers who met 
at Nicaea formulated once more the faith of the 
Church in the words of what we now call the Nicene 
Creed. When the text of this Creed was read before 
the assembled bishops, they exclaimed as with one 
voice: ‘““This is the Catholic faith, in this faith we 
have been baptized, in this faith we likewise our- 
selves baptize.” 

The Nicene Creed ends at the words: Et in Spirt- 
tum Sanctum (And in the Holy Ghost). What fol- 
lows was added by the Second General Council (that 
of Constantinople) of 381. New heresies demanded 


2 De virgin. veland., I. 


122 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


the addition of fresh clauses, defining more explicitly 
the work and mission of the Holy Ghost. The famous 
Filioque (defining the relation of the Holy Ghost 
to God the Son) was not part of the Creed as formu- 
lated at Constantinople, but was added by the 
Churches of Spain in the fifth century, and was after- 
wards adopted by the Church of Gaul. Everybody 
knows to what controversies this apparently slight 
addition gave rise, and how in the end it became one 
of the motives (or rather one of the pretexts) that 
led up to the lamentable schism which has so long 
severed the Eastern from the Western Church. 
The practice of reciting the Creed during the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice is not of very great antiquity 
in so far as the Roman Liturgy is concerned. The 
Greek Church began to recite the Creed of Constan- 
tinople about the end of the fifth century. The 
orthodox bishops chose this Creed in preference to 
that of Nicaea, because its greater explicitness did 
not lend itself to the subterfuges of the heretics who 
affected a special loyalty to that of Nicwa. In the 
Latin Church, as has just been said, the practice 
originated in Spain at about the same time as in the 
Greek Church. In 589 the Third Council of Toledo 
decreed that “in all the Churches of Spain and 
Galicia, after the manner of the Eastern Churches, 
the symbolum of the Council of Constantinople, 
(that is, that of 150 bishops) be recited, and that 
it be sung in a loud voice (clara voce) by the people 
before the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, in order 
that faith may be openly professed and that the 
hearts of the people may be purified by faith.” 


THE CREDO 123 


After the condemnation of the Adoptionist heresy 
of Felix of Urgel and Elipandus at the Council of 
Frankfort in 754, the Creed with the clause Filioque 
began to be universally recited throughout Gaul and 
Germany. Leo III sanctioned the custom, but ex- 
pressed a wish that the Filioque be omitted, lest an 
occasion for quibbling be given to the Greeks. How- 
ever, no notice was taken of this wise request. 

Finally, the Church of Rome herself took up the 
practice (even though with some reluctance) at the 
request of Emperor St. Henry in the year rorg4. 
Berno of Reichenau, who accompanied his imperial 
master to Rome on the occasion of the latter’s 
coronation by Benedict VIII, relates how the pious 
emperor was astonished that in the holy city the 
Creed was not sung at Mass, as he was wont to hear 
it in Germany. He asked the Pope for the reason, 
and was told that, whereas in most Churches some 
one or other article of the Creed had been denied, 
the Roman Church had never fallen into heresy. 
However, the emperor would not be denied, and 
persisted in his request until the Pope granted it. 
Baronius, when relating the incident in his “History 
of the Church,’’ comments thus upon it: ‘We are 
satisfied, but we should have been even more pleased, 
had less respect been paid to a novelty and more 
to a custom of a thousand years’ antiquity.” 

According to the rubrics, the Creed is said (or 
sung) on all feasts of our Lord and on all Sundays 
of the year; likewise on the feasts of Our Lady and 
the Angels; also on the feasts of the Apostles, who 
were the heralds of the faith we profess. St. Mary 


124 PRIEST“ ADTSTHE ALTAR 


Magdalen has a Credo, because she became the | 
apostle of the Apostles, inasmuch as she was bidden 
by the risen Christ Himself to go and tell His 
brethren: “Behold, [ am risen and go before you 
into Galilee.” The feasts of Saints of the first and 
second class have a Credo. But the feasts of Saints 
of the Old Testament have no Credo, unless they 
happen to be the patrons of a church or country. 
St. Joseph has a Credo, because he is the patron of 
the Universal Church. On the other hand, St. John 
the Baptist has no Credo, except in a church dedi- 
cated to him. An octave is but the continuation of 
a feast, so, if the day itself has a Credo, the days 
within the octave have one also, not however the 
days within a simplified octave, as we now have them, 
according to the new rubrics of the Missal. It is 
also recited on the feasts of Doctors of the Church 
and in a solemn votive Mass, even if it be celebrated 
in purple vestments. But there is no need of a com- 
plete list here, since the Ordo of each diocese in- 
variably indicates the days on which the Credo is to 
be recited. 

The rubrics of the Missal prescribe that the Credo 
should be intoned when the priest has returned to 
the middle of the altar—not whilst he returns there, 
as so frequently happens. He must extend and raise 
his hands whilst he says Credo. When he says in 
unum Deum (in one God), he folds his hands and 
bows the head towards the crucifix. The re- 
mainder is said junctis ante pectus manibus, except 
during the genuflexion. This genuflexion must begin 
at the words: Et incarnatus est, and only terminate 


THE CREDO 125 


when the words et homo factus est have been said. 
We bow the head to the cross at Jesum Christum 
and at the words simul adoratur (equally adored), 
and make the sign of the cross whilst saying Et vitam 
venturi s@culi, joining the hands at the Amen. 


CHAPTER XIII 
The Offertory 


§ 1. Historical Development of this Prayer. 


1B earlier centuries, when the Mass of the Cate- 
chumens was ended (that is, after the Gospel and 
homily), the faithful alone remained within the 
sacred edifice. [he first part of the Mass of the 
faithful was a common act of prayer and intercession 
(the prayer of the faithful), of which nothing re- 
mains in our present Liturgy except a rather general 
invitation to pray. Turning towards the people the 
priest greets them with the salutation: Dominus 
vobiscum, to which they answer: Et cum spiritu tuo. 
Then the priest says: Oremus. However, no prayer 
follows. As Duchesne quaintly remarks: “It is odd 
that this invitation should be followed by no result, 
in the eighth no more than in the present century: 
nobody prays! The offerings of the people are 
gathered.” It seems fairly obvious that here some- 
thing has dropped out of the Liturgy; probably some 
such prayers as we still recite on Good Friday. 
Those prayers are not, in reality, peculiar to Good 
Friday; they are general intercessions for various 
needs and for different classes of people. They used 
to be offered, without any doubt, at this moment, 
126 


THE OFFERTORY 127 


before the gifts of the people were placed on the 
altar. Eventually, they came to be left out because 
of their essential identity with the prayers for the 
living and the dead, which are said in the Canon of 
‘the Mass. ‘Their length may very well have had 
something to do with their omission. The general 
exhortation to pray is now all that remains, together 
with some form of popular “bidding prayer’’ which 
has survived in most churches and countries. 

The Offertory, as we now read it in our Missal, 
is reduced to a mere antiphon, like the Postcom- 
munion or even the Introit. Originally it was but 
the first of a number of psalm verses; in fact, a whole 
psalm was assuredly sung whilst the people walked 
up to the sanctuary with their offerings of bread and 
wine. It is quite clear that the Offertory chant, like 
the Introit, was introduced for the sole purpose of 
occupying the mind of the assistants whilst something 
was being done. The Offertory chant is very ancient: 
it was introduced at Carthage during the lifetime of 
St. Augustine, who had to defend the practice against 
the criticism of a certain Hilarius. The pamphlet 
which was written by the great African Doctor upon 
this subject and which he alludes to in his Retracta- 
tiones, is unfortunately lost, but it is of interest to 
note that he calls the Offertory chant a hymn from 
the Psalms. The Psalms are, in effect, the ordinary 
source of our Offertories, though some are from 
other books of the sacred volume, and a few are 
simply liturgical compositions (such as the Offertory 
of the Mass of the Dead, in which the antiphon still 


retains its verse). 


128 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


§ 2. The Preparation of the Matter of the Sacrifice. 


The singing or recitation of the antiphon of the 
Offertory brings us to the Mass of the faithful. The 
Offertory supplies the keynote to the interior dis- 
positions of the faithful as they are about to offer 
to the heavenly Father those gifts of Christ’s own 
choosing, which are so soon to be changed into His 
Flesh and Blood. ‘Thus, the Offertory of Easter, 
with its note of triumph and victory, brings home 
to our minds that the Victim we are even now pre- 
paring to slay in a mystic Sacrifice, is the risen Lord 
of glory and the Judge of all: Terra tremuit, et 
quievit, dum resurgeret in judicio Deus (The earth 
trembled and was still, when God arose in judg- 
ment). 

According to our present use and discipline, as 
soon as the priest with hands folded before his breast 
has read the Offertory antiphon, he uncovers the 
chalice and proceeds to say the prayer of oblation 
over the host. The bread and wine are no longer 
brought to the altar by the people, but are supplied 
by the priest or his minister. But it was not thus 
in the beginning and for long centuries afterwards. 
The faithful, men and women alike, deemed it a 
privilege and a duty to supply the matter of the 
Eucharistic feast, and did so in the very act of the 
Sacrifice. A procession would then be formed of 
those who took their offering into the sanctuary, or 
at least as far as the barrier (cancelli), which in- 
variably separated the sanctuary from the nave. 


THE OFFERTORY 129 


According to Amalarius (ninth century), the priest 
came to the sanctuary railings, and there received 
the offerings of the people. Then he returned to 
the altar to dispose, either personally or by the 
ministry of the deacon, the offerings which he in- 
tended to present to the Lord in the course of the 
Mass. Even the celebrant and his ministers made 
their offering, but at the altar itself. Already in 
the sixth century the Council of Macon, in France, 
ordained “that on all Sundays both men and women 
should make an offering at the altar of bread and 
wine, that by this oblation they may be freed from 
the burden of their sins and made partakers of the 
sacrifice of Abel and all the just.” That these offer- 
ings were made in the hope of receiving a share in 
the fruits of the Mass is borne out by an incident 
in the life of St. Benedict which we have already 
related. [wo dead nuns were seen to leave their 
graves whenever the deacon cried out that the excom- 
municate should leave the church. Though dead, 
they were seen obeying this command by their 
former nurse, who was wont to make an offering in 
their behalf (que pro eis oblationem Domino offerre 
consueverat). When St. Benedict heard of the 
dreadful event he at once made an offering: Qu1 
manu sua protinus oblationem dedit, dicens: Ite, et 
hanc oblationem pro eis offert Domino facite. .. . 
Que dum oblatio pro eis fuisset immolata... 
ille exire ab ecclesia ulterius vise non sunt (With 
his own hand, he gave an offering, saying: Go, and 
have thissrouerinas made» to .Godi-for them: si... 
When the offering had been made, these two were 


130 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


no longer seen to leave the church.” ? From this 
story we gather that offerings were made by the 
faithful, not only for themselves, but for others also, 
even for the dead. 

As late as the eleventh century a Roman Synod 
prescribed that “every Christian should offer some- 
thing to God during the solemn celebration of Mass, 
and call to mind that which God spoke by the mouth 
of Moses: “Thou shalt not appear empty-handed in 
My presence.’ For it is made clear by all monu- 
ments of the holy Fathers that it is an ancient custom 
which ordains that all Christians should offer some- 
thing to God.” This canon is inserted in the old 
Corpus juris canonict. 

Bread and wine were not the only offerings made 
by the faithful; other gifts were also offered to serve 
either for the maintenance of the clergy or for dis- 
tribution to the poor. So the transition to the offer- 
ing of money alone was a natural and easy one. St. 
Peter Damian (at the end of the eleventh century) 
and Honorius of Autun (in the twelfth) already 
make it clear that in their time people no longer 
offered bread and wine, but money. Our “‘collec- 
tion’’ of money during the Offertory has, therefore, 
a venerable antiquity to commend it. There can be 
no doubt that, if priests would explain to their people 
that to contribute to the collection is an act of wor- 
ship, based upon an age-long tradition, the faithful 
would be moved to greater generosity and would 
derive more fruit from the Holy Sacrifice, since, as 


1§t. Gregory, Dialog. I, ii, 33. 


THE OFFERTORY 131 


has been shown above, the purpose of the oblation 
was to secure a share in the fruit of the Sacrifice. 

Our present-day Mass stipend is another normal 
development of this ancient practice. The stipend 
is not payment for Mass; it is an offering freely 
made, but when it has been accepted by the priest he 
is bound in justice to apply the Holy Sacrifice accord- 
ing to the mind and intention of the donor. The 
sum which the faithful are to offer for a Mass is 
determined by the bishop of the diocese or the 
bishops of a province or country. It should be made 
clear to the people that the word “stipend” (stipen- 
dium) was a Roman military term signifying, not 
the pay of a soldier, but his allowance for food and 
whatever else he required for his sustenance. So the 
offering or “stipend” for a Mass should be the 
equivalent of the sum required to “keep” a priest on 
the day on which the donor has secured that part 
of the fruit of the Mass of which the priest may dis- 
pose according to his own will. 

The necessary matter of the Sacrifice of the New 
Law is bread and wine. We know it to be so from 
the record of the institution of the Eucharist by 
Jesus Christ, who, at the Last Supper and there only, 
officiated as priest according to the order of Mel- 
chisedech. Our Lord is a priest secundum ordinem 
Melchisedech, because of the external resemblance 
of the Sacrifice of the Mass to the oblation of the 
King of Salem, who brought forth “bread and wine, 
for he was the priest of the most high God.” ? 

There can be no doubt that our Lord instituted 


2 Gen., xiv. 18. 


132 PRIES THAD CHE SAD LAR 


the Holy Eucharist with unleavened bread, even if 
it were proved, as some assert, that He anticipated 
the Paschal feast by a day. The Last Supper began 
with the eating of the Paschal Lamb, and we know 
that only unleavened bread was allowed to be on 
the table on that occasion. Notwithstanding, during 
several centuries, both the Eastern and the Western 
Churches were wont to use indifferently leavened and 
unleavened bread. Since about the eighth century 
the Western Church has used unleavened bread ex- 
clusively for the Holy Eucharist, whereas the Greeks 
used ordinary leavened bread long before the schism. 
The Council of Florence (1439) defined that “the 
body of Christ is truly consecrated in either leavened 
or unleavened bread, and that every priest must use 
either the one or the other, according to the practice 
of the Church to which he belongs.” 

So long as the faithful were in the habit of offer- 
ing the bread which was to be consecrated, ordinary 
loaves were used. St. Gregory relates the story of 
a woman who laughed during Mass, because, at the 
Communion, she was given the very loaf she had 
presented at the Offertory. At least since the twelfth 
century, the Eucharistic bread has a round shape, 
like a coin. According to Honorius of Autun, it has 
the shape of a coin, because Christ, who is the Bread 
of life, is also the coin which is given as the reward 
of those who have toiled in the vineyard of the Lord. 
The name hostia (host or victim) is given to the 
Eucharistic bread, not because it is itself the oblation 
—for we do not sacrifice bread—but by anticipation, 
inasmuch as the substance of the bread is to be 


THE OFFERTORY 133 


changed into the Body of Him who is our true Vic- 
tim (O salutaris Hostia). 

The bread used at the altar must be wheaten 
bread—baked from dough made without admixture 
of anything whatsoever except pure natural water. 
The wine which is used in the Holy Sacrifice must 
be pure, unadulterated wine. ‘The use of unfer- 
mented wine would be valid, but gravely illicit. It is 
immaterial whether white or red wine is used, but 
cleanliness demands that white wine should be used 
by preference, though our Lord most probably con- 
secrated with red Palestinian wine. To the wine 
must be added a few drops of water. To avoid the 
danger of pouring in too much water, which would 
dilute the wine so as to make it doubtful matter of 
consecration, the priest may use a small spoon to 
draw the water from the cruet. ‘The use of such 
spoons is many centuries old. In the early Middle 
Ages, when the faithful made their offerings in kind, 
the water was presented by the schola cantorum (the 
school of Chanters), at the foot of the altar or at 
the sanctuary rails. 

The Holy Eucharist is both Sacrifice and Sacra- 
ment, a sacred repast in which is consumed that 
which has been offered in the Sacrifice. Our Sac- 
rifice was prefigured by that of Melchisedech and 
predicted by the Prophet Malachy. God is described 
as weary of the offerings of the priests of the Old 
Law; He has no pleasure in them and will receive 
no gift at their hand. A new sacrifice, a pure obla- 
tion, presented to God from every point of the globe, 
is about to take the place of the blood of sheep and 


134 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


oxen, shed so long upon the one altar of Isracl. 
Jerusalem is to be no longer the only place of sac- 
rificial worship. Countless altars, yet substantially 
all one, are to be erected among the nations, for 
‘from the rising of the sun to the going down, My 
name is great among the Gentiles: and in every 
place there is sacrifice and there is offered to My 
name a clean oblation.”’*? ‘The Eucharistic Sacrifice 
is the glorious fulfilment of this divine oracle. 

The Victim immolated in our Sacrifice is eaten in 
Holy Communion, for our Victim is the source and 
cause of our true life: “My Flesh is meat indeed 
and My Blood is drink indeed . . . he that eateth 
this Bread shall live for ever; he that eateth My 
Flesh and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting 
life.” * Now bread and wine are simply food itself. 
Our Lord bids us pray for our “daily bread,” by 
which is meant all that we need for food and drink. 
“Bringing forth grass for cattle, and herb for the 
service of man. That thou mayest bring bread out 
of the earth and that wine may cheer the heart of 
man. That he may make the face cheerful with oil: 
and that bread may strengthen man’s heart.” ® 

Bread and wine are also symbols of unity—unity, 
that is, with Christ and with one another. ‘‘For to 
this end (as also men of God who were before us 
have understood this matter) did our Lord Jesus 
Christ betoken unto us [leave unto us] His Body 
and Blood in things which are out of many units 


3 Mal, i. 12. 
4 John, vi. 55. 
5 Ps, cili, 14, 15. 


THE OFFERTORY 135 


reduced to some one whole. For out of many grains 
are several made into one.’’® ‘The Eucharistic re- 
past does not merely symbolize our union with our 
Lord; it produces it. Oneness with Jesus Christ 
is the chief effect of Holy Communion. ‘The chalice 
of benediction which we bless, is it not the com- 
munion of the Blood of Christ? And the bread 
which we break, is it not the partaking of the Body 
of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, 
one body, all that partake of one bread.” * 

It is the peculiar property of this divine Bread 
that, unlike material bread, we do not assimilate it 
after eating it; rather are we transformed into its 
likeness, for this is a “living bread” which alters and 
transforms us into the likeness of the Son of God. 
In his “Confessions” St. Augustine has a fine passage 
which may pertinently be quoted here. Describing 
how the light of God unchangeable beat upon his 
eyes, he says: “Thou didst beat back the weakness 
of my sight, streaming forth Thy beams of light upon 
me most strongly, and I trembled with love and awe: 
and I perceived myself far off from Thee, in the 
region of unlikeness, as if I heard this Thy voice 
from on high: ‘I am the food of grown men; grow, 
and thou shalt feed upon Me; nor shalt thou con- 
vert Me, like the food of thy flesh, into thee, but 
thou shalt be converted into Me.’ ”’ ® 

The bread of our Sacrifice is azym-bread (that 
is, unleavened). Leaven brings about fermentation, 


6 St. Augustine, Zn Joan. xxvi; cfr. Library of the Fathers, p. 412. 
7 Cor. e601: 
8 Confess., VII, 16. 


136 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


and hence a certain corruption, in the dough of which 
the bread is made. So it came to be looked upon 
as a symbol of sin by which the soul is corrupted. 
For this reason the law prescribed that all leavened 
bread should be burnt ere the Israelites partook of 
the azyms and the flesh of the Paschal lamb. We 
have already seen the symbolism of the azyms in 
the Epistle of the Mass of Easter: “Purge out the 
old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are 
unleavened. For Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. 
Therefore, let us feast, not with the old leaven of 
malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened 
bread of sincerity and truth.” ® 

The water which we mix with the wine is symbolic 
both of the Incarnation, in which the Eternal Word 
united a human nature to Himself in the unity of one 
person, and of the union of the faithful with Christ 
our Head. This is the explanation given by the 
Council of Trent of a practice which goes back to 
the days of the Apostles (Hoc ex apostolica tradi- 
tione perpetuo sancta Ecclesia servavit)° The 
Fathers of Trent quote a passage from a letter of 
St. Cyprian, in which the holy Bishop says: “‘Inas- 
much as Christ bore us and our sins [in the Incarna- 
tion], the water signifies the people and the wine 
the Blood of Christ. When the water is mixed with 
the wine of the chalice, it symbolizes the oneness of 
the people with Christ.” That the water is a symbol 
of the people appears from Apoc., xvii. 15: “The 
waters which thou sawest ... are peoples, and 


®TI Cor., v. 7, 
10 Catech. Eoacit Tridi Parte llsyce) 1v; 16. 


THE OFFERTORY 137 


nations and tongues.”’ ‘The symbolism is the more 
expressive, since the few drops of water poured into 
the chalice lose their nature and become wine, ac- 
cording to the teaching of Innocent III, which St. 
Thomas makes his own: Si agua omnino non ap- 
poneretur, totaliter excluderetur significatio; sed cum 
aqua in vinum convertitur significatur quod populus 
Christo incorporatur (Were no water mixed with 
the wine, the symbolism would be destroyed; but 
when the water is turned into wine, it signifies that 
the faithful are incorporated in Christ). 

We are made one with Jesus Christ in order that 
we may receive “grace upon grace,” and share in 
the glory which He had with the Father before the 
world was made; but so sublime an end can only be 
achieved if we identify ourselves likewise with the 
Sacrifice of our High Priest and our Victim. This 
is well expressed by a servant of God of our own 
days: “All religion is summed up in sacrifice: Jesus 
is a priest in order that He might immolate and offer 
a twofold victim, His natural and His mystical body. 
He came down into this world for the purpose of 
offering this sacrifice; hence, the heavenly Father can 
only acknowledge and receive us as His own, if we 
have put on Jesus Christ immolated, and are in such 
wise united to His sacrifice.” 


Seanolihe Ofertoryy Prayers: 


The oblation of the Victim to God is the essential 
part of the Sacrifice, even more than its actual slaying 


11 Summa Theol., III, Q. Ixxiy, a. 8. 


138 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


or destruction. So it comes about that the Offertory 
forms a preliminary to the Consecration, by which 
alone the Eucharistic Sacrifice is accomplished. The 
oblation which takes place in the Offertory is of com- 
paratively recent origin—at least the prayers which 
accompany the presentation of the gifts, are of com- 
paratively recent institution. In any case, the Offer- 
tory oblation is specifically different from the im- 
plied, or even explicit, oblation which is identical with 
the consecration of the elements of bread and wine. 
It would be truer to say that our Offertory is a fuller 
or more detailed reénactment of our Lord’s own 
action at the Last Supper, when He Himself insti- 
tuted and celebrated the unbloody Sacrifice of the 
New Law. ‘Taking bread into His holy and vener- 
able hands, He raised His eyes to heaven, towards 
His divine and omnipotent Father, and blessed it. 
By His blessing our Lord set aside and sanctified 
the bread He held in His hands, that it might be 
substantially changed into His Body by the words 
of omnipotence: “This is My Body.” 

In like manner, when the Eucharistic elements 
have been placed upon the altar, Holy Church, by 
her blessing and oblation, withdraws them from all 
profane and common uses. By offering them to God, 
she liberates these lowly elements from every subtle 
influence of the evil one. According to Innocent II, 
the bread, wine and water are blessed with the sign 
of the cross in order that “the power of the cross 
may drive away every effort of the ill-will of the 
devil, lest he should be able to do aught against 
either the priest or the sacrifice itself.’” 


THE OFFERTORY 139 


The Offertory is, therefore, a preliminary conse- 
cration of the elements, which receive their highest 
consecration when their substance is indeed, not lost, 
but changed into the substance of the Flesh and 
Blood of the Son of God. For many centuries the 
only prayer accompanying this oblation is that which 
we now call the Secret, but which the Gelasian Mis- 
sal calls Oratio super oblata (Prayer over the Offer- 
ings). Our present Offertory prayers are only a 
development of what is more concisely expressed in 
the Secret. For that reason they are likewise recited 
secretly, except the prayer which accompanies the 
oblation of the chalice at the High Mass, when it 
is said by the celebrant and the deacon together, and 
for that reason must be said in such wise that priest 
and deacon may hear each other. 

Having uncovered the chalice and placed it out- 
side the corporal, the priest takes, with both hands, 
the paten on which the host lies, and holds it before 
him (usque ad pectus, says the rubric; that is, at 
the height of his chest). Then he raises his eyes 
to God for a moment, lowers them immediately and 
lets them rest upon the host, whilst reciting the 
prayer by which the bread is blessed and presented 
to God for His blessing. The prayer of oblation 
opens with an appeal to the holiness, power and 
eternity of God our Father. To Him, and to Him 
alone, may sacrifice be offered. Suscipe (Receive 
it), prays the priest, for He alone is the true and 
living God. Him we serve, but His service does 
not enslave; on the contrary, it invests us with a 
regal dignity: “You are a chosen generation, a kingly 


140 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people.” ” 


For this cause it is granted to us, inasmuch as we 
are ‘‘a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, 
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” ** Soon we shall 
offer Him His only Son, in whom He is well pleased; 
now we only offer this spotless bread (hanc immacu- 
latam hostiam). 

What is offered to the Most High should be flaw- 
less, for, even when we give of earth’s best, we give 
but little, and our offerings are always of His giving. 
In that very prophecy which so clearly foretells the 
perfect oblation of the New Law, we hear God's 
complaint that the priests of the Old Law dishonored 
Him: “To you, O priests, that despise My name, 
and have said: Wherein have we despised Thy 
name? You offer polluted bread upon My altar, 
and you say: Wherein have we polluted Thee? In 
that you say: The table of the Lord is contemptible. 
If you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? 
and if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? 
offer it to thy prince, if he will be pleased with it, 
or if he will regard thy face, saith the Lord of 
hosts,”’ ** 

However, the whole tenor of our prayer compels 
us to see in the “spotless host’? not merely flawless, 
stainless bread. Holy Church looks ahead and 
anticipates upon what is to be accomplished in the 
Canon. In the immaculata hostia which now lies 
upon the paten, which her prayer and oblation with- 


12] Pet., ii. 9, 
18 Jbid., ii. 5. 
14 Mal., i. 7, 8. 


THE OFFERTORY 141 


draws from the common uses of human life, she 
already beholds the spotless Victim whose immola- 
tion alone can take away the stains of our innumer- 
able transgressions: “Christ hath loved us, and hath 
delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice 
to God for an odor of sweetness” (Christus dilexit 
nos, et tradidit semetipsum pro nobis oblationem et 
hostiam Deo in odorem suavitatis).*° Hence it 
would be a deplorable whittling down of the rich 
significance of the Suscipe, were we to think of the 
bread only; in fact, it would be a grievous error, 
inasmuch as we expressly declare that the “spotless 
host” is offered “for my innumerable sins, offenses 
and negligences” (pro innumerabilibus peccatis et 
offensionibus, et negligenttis meis), an end for which 
the oblation of bread would avail but little. 

All this is very forcibly stated by Cardinal Bona, 
who tells us of a great controversy between a certain 
Austin Friar named Hofmeister and some learned, 
unnamed personage. The latter expressed his 
amazement that bread and wine should be called a 
spotless sacrifice, when God is asked to accept it for 
the wellbeing of the living and the dead. ‘Not 
bread and wine do we call a spotless sacrifice,” 
answered the friar, ‘“‘but the Body and Blood of the 
Lord, into which they are changed. Hence they are 
deemed worthy of such appellation, not by reason 
of what they now are, but of what they are about 
to become. Such an appellation harmonizes with 
Scriptural language. Thus Judas is styled ‘the 
traitor, from the beginning of his vocation, because 


15 Eph., v. 2. 


142 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


he became a traitor later on.’ In short, we speak 
of the material elements of our sacrifice in the same 
terms as we should speak of the divine realities that 
underlie them after the words of omnipotence have 
been pronounced over them. So we call the host 
lying on our paten immaculatam hostiam, and with 
perfect propriety because of the intimate and imme- 
diate relation between the bread that is now and the 
sacred Flesh of Christ that is presently to take its 
place! 

We need waste no time in scrutinizing the exact 
shade of meaning of the three words, peccatis, offen- 
sionibus, negligentus; they include all our sins, great 
and small, both of omission and commission, by 
which our life has been at variance with the supreme 
rule of conduct, the all-holy will and essence of God. 
Moreover, in this very act of preliminary oblation 
and anticipatory consecration of the elements, the 
priest is reminded of the catholicity of his sacrifice. 
He offers it not for himself only, but also, and that 
in a peculiar manner, “for all here present” (pro 
omnibus circumstantibus). ‘Those nearest to a big 
fire get most warmth out of it; hence, other things 
being equal, those who surround the altar at the mo- 
ment of sacrifice receive more of its efficacy than 
those who take part in it only because they belong 
to the mystical body of Christ, and thus somehow 
share in whatever advantages accrue to the Church. 
Then, our sacrifice is made for the living and the 
dead, for our present wellbeing in the order of nature 
and grace, that so we may come to life everlasting 
(ad salutem in vitam eternam). 


THE OFFERTORY 143 


After the prayer of oblation the priest makes the 
sign of the cross with the paten over the place where 
he is to put the spotless host which he has just 
presented to the gaze of the heavenly Father. Then 
he allows the host gently to slip from the paten. 
The paten itself is hidden under the corporal in such 
wise that only the edge of it is visible. We find 
traces of this custom as far back as the eleventh 
century. Medieval liturgists see various symbolic 
meanings in the act, of which no doubt the truest 
explanation is also the obvious one: namely, that the 
paten, being a sacred vessel but not required until 
the end of the Pater noster, it was found desirable 
to put it out of the celebrant’s way, yet so as to hide 
it from the gaze of the people. Hence, at High 
Mass, it is taken off the altar altogether and held 
under a veil by the subdeacon. 

After the offering of the bread, the priest pours 
wine into the chalice, then blesses the water by mak- 
ing the sign of the cross, and pours two or three 
drops into the chalice. The prayer which accom- 
panies the blessing and pouring in of the water gives 
us the meaning of the ceremony. The prayer ts very 
old, for it is found in both the Gelasian and 
Gregorian Missals as a Collect for Christmas Day, 
with only the omission of a reference to water and 
wine, which was inserted when the Collect was placed 
among the Offertory prayers. The addition of water 
to the Eucharistic wine (that is, the addition of a 
lowlier to a nobler substance) signifies the union of 
the human with the divine nature in Christ and our 
own consequent raising to a dignity far excelling the 


144 PRIEST: AT THE ALTAR 


primeval and essential nobility inherent in our 
nature. God has wondrously created us, but has 
even more marvelously renewed us, and the purpose 
of Christ’s assumption of our nature is but that we 
may be made one with Him, “by whom He [God] 
hath given us most great and precious promises: 

that by these we may be made partakers of the divine 
matures 0% 

‘Let us hide ourselves in the sacred chalice,’ the 
saintly foundress of a religious institute said to her 
daughters, “like the drop of water which the priest 
mingles with the wine of the altar, in order that our 
lowly expiations and our sacrifice be mingled with 
the Sacrifice of the Redeemer, and that His oblation 
and ours may constitute but one offering.’ And we 
have the authority of Holy Church herself to bear 
out this interpretation. The Secret, as has been said 
already, is the real Offertory prayer, the only prayer 
super oblata used by the Church during many cen- 
turies. Thus, the Secret is the authentic expression 
of the mind of the Church in the Offertory act, which 
is seen in every Secret. It is, thus, seen in the Secret 
of Easter, but most vividly in that of the Fourth 
Sunday after Easter: Deus qui nos per hujus sac- 
rifictt veneranda commercia, unius summe Divinitatis 
participes effecisti (O God, who by the venerable 
communion in this sacrifice hast made us partakers 
of the one supreme Godhead). 

The prayer which accompanies the oblation of the 
chalice is spoken in the plural. It is supposed to be 
said simultaneously by the priest and the deacon, the 


16 JT Pet., 1. 4. 


THE OFFERTORY 145 


latter being in a peculiar manner (and, as it were, 
by right) the minister of the chalice, so much so that 
it was he who formerly offered it to the faithful at 
the Communion. St. Lawrence said to St. Sixtus, 
the Pope: experire utrum idoneum ministrum ele- 
geris, cut commisistt Dominici sanguinis dispensa- 
tionem (try whether thou didst choose a fit minister 
when thou didst commit to me the dispensation of 
the Blood of the Lord). The plural, moreover, 
emphasizes once more the universality of the sacri- 
fice. Now there is but wine in the cup—we lift it 
up on high, and at the same time we keep our eyes 
raised to heaven—and as the heavenly Father blesses 
and accepts our offering, He already perceives the 
sweet odor of the cup of salvation (in odorem 
suavitatis ascendat). 

After the oblation of the wine, the priest folds 
his hands, rests them on the edge of the altar and 
says a prayer reminiscent of Daniel’s pitiful com- 
plaint to the Lord that in his day there was no longer 
either holocaust or sacrifice “that we might find 
mercy; nevertheless, in a contrite heart and humble 
spirit let us be accepted.” ” 

Then, raising his eyes and hands to heaven and 
lowering them again, the priest blesses simultane- 
ously both elements of the Sacrifice, and prays: 
‘Come, O Sanctifier, almighty and eternal God, and 
bless this sacrifice prepared for Thy holy name” 
(Veni, sanctificator omnipotens, aterne Deus, et 
benedic hoc sacrificium tuo sancto nomint prepara- 
tum). Who is meant by Sanctificator omnipotens? 


17 Dan., iii. 38, 39. 


146 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


It seems wellnigh impossible to call in question that 
the Holy Ghost is meant here. Other Liturgies than 
the Latin seem to make the point certain. But the 
question is: Have we here the famous epiclesis, in 
which the Eastern Church asks the Holy Ghost to 
work the ineffable change of bread and wine into 
the Body and Blood of Christ? We are at liberty 
to look upon our prayer in that light—there is as 
much—nay, more—reason to ask the Holy Ghost 
to act upon these elements before the Consecration 
than after it, as is done by the Greeks. ‘The sole 
cause of the tremendous change which takes place 
at the Consecration is the efficacy of the words of 
Jesus Christ, first spoken by Himself at the Last 
Supper and repeated in His name by the priests of 
the Catholic Church. There can be no manner of 
doubt that the Holy Ghost codperates in the mystery, 
inasmuch as the three divine Persons are inseparable 
and coéperate in all things. Pater meus usque modo 
operatur, et ego operor (My Father worketh until 
now, and I work), said Christ, and the same 
is true of the Holy Ghost. That these operations 
are undivided is theological truth, because operation 
follows nature and the divine nature, though sub- 
sisting in three Persons, is one. 

The invocation of the Holy Ghost in the Veni 
sanctificator is immediately followed by a highly sym- 
bolic rite—namely, the washing of hands (or rather, 
of the fingers with which the priest is about to touch 
the sacred species). At a time when all the assistants 
offered their gifts in kind, and the priest received 
them at their hands, there was an obvious reason for 


THE OFFERTORY 147 


the washing of his hands. The fourteenth Ordo 
Romanus prescribes that the thumbs and forefingers 
alone be washed, adding that, after washing them, 
the priest should not touch anything with them until 
after the Communion. Whilst washing and wiping 
his hands, the priest recites part of Psalm xxv, in 
which David protests his innocence when subjected 
to calumny and persecution. The washing of hands 
is an external sign of inward purity. In a like spirit 
Jesus washed the feet of His Apostles before He 
instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the priesthood 
of the New Law: “He that is washed needeth not 
but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly.” * 

When he has returned to the middle of the altar 
with folded hands, the priest raises his eyes to 
heaven (oculosque ad Deum elevans), lowers them 
immediately, bends the head and shoulders, and, 
resting his folded hands upon the edge of the altar, 
recites a prayer addressed to the Blessed Trinity: 
Suscipe, Sancta Trinitas. ‘This prayer, with the 
Secret, was at one time the only Offertory prayer. 
Its text has come down to us with many variations. 
As it now stands in our Missal, it is one of the very 
few liturgical prayers dipeerty addressed to the 
Blessed Trinity. It is interesting for the theologian 
as one more official expression of the dogma of the 
Communion of Saints. In the very act of sacrifice, 
which may be made to God’s majesty alone, we 
declare that we perform this supreme act of worship 
in remembrance of the mysteries of our Lord’s life 
in time, and to the honor also of Christ’s Mother 


28 John, xiii. ro. 


148 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


and the Saints, some of whom are mentioned by 
name—namely, the Precursor and the princes of the 
apostolic college. After et istorum (and of these), 
Wwe may suppose that the names of the Saints were 
mentioned, whose relics were on the altar or beneath 
it—the more so since many versions of the prayer 
expressly say: ef eorum quorum reliquie hic sunt 
recondite (and of these Saints whose relics are here 
concealed). 

Our Sacrifice procures an increase of glory for the 
Saints; for us it obtains salvation; so, whilst we are 
mindful of them on earth, we crave their intercession 
in heaven. But both their glory and our salvation 
are due solely to our one common Lord Jesus Christ, 
whose Passion, Resurrection and Ascension are the 
hope and stay of our lives in this world, for He alone 
can open the gate of life for His followers (Tu 
devicto mortis aculeo, aperuistt credentibus regna 
celorum). - 


§ 4. Orate Fratres. 


When the celebrant has recited the prayer ad- 
dressed to the Blessed Trinity (Suscipe Sancta Trini- 
tas), he kisses the altar. This ceremonial kiss of 
the altar is never omitted whenever the priest has 
to turn round to salute the faithful or to ask their 
prayers, as in the present instance. Since the altar 
is a symbol of Christ, reverence paid to it is given 
to Christ. Extending his hands, and at once folding 
them again, the priest says: Orate fratres. This is 
the very last time that the celebrant turns towards 


THE OFFERTORY 149 


the assistants before he wraps himself in the holy 
silence amid which the tremendous Sacrifice is offered 
to God’s majesty. 

There is a strange anomaly between the words of 
the invitation (which, apparently, is addressed to 
the whole assembly), and the manner in which it is 
made. The rubric prescribes that the words be 
uttered voce paululum elevata (that is, in a slightly 
raised tone of voice). Apparently the invitation is 
not intended to be heard throughout the sacred 
edifice, but only by those who are in the immediate 
neighborhood of the altar. Various interpretations 
of the seeming contradiction have been proposed. 
One is that the Offertory chant is supposed to be 
still going on; another, which is one probably nearest 
the truth, explains that the words were addressed 
only to the priests who celebrated simultancously 
with the sacrificing priest (concelebranies). The 
General Rubrics *® prescribe that at a Low Mass the 
Orate fratres should be said in a loud voice (clara 
voce), which seems to be at variance with what is 
expressly stated in the rubrics of the Ordo Misse 
and in the Ritus celebrandi which is printed at the 
beginning of the Missal. 

The call to prayer at this moment is certainly ad- 
dressed, in the first instance, to the ministers of the 
altar. In the Breviarium ecclesiastici ordinis, pub- 
lished by Muratori,” it is prescribed that after the 
Offertory the officiating priest shall turn to his fellow- 
celebrants (concelebrantes) on either side of the 


19 XVI, 1. 
20 Liturg. Rom., II. 


150 PRIPOW AGRE ALTAR 


altar (Tune sacerdos ... alts sacerdotibus pos- 
tulat pro se orare). 

The same thing might be said about the Nobis 
quoque peccatoribus, which is also said parum 
elevata voce, and designates the ministers of the 
altar (famulis tuis), as distinct from the rest of 
the faithful. This distinction between celebrant, 
ministers and assistants is very emphatically stated 
in the prayer which follows the consecration: 
‘Wherefore, O Lord, we Thy servants, as also Thy 
holy people” (Unde et memores, Domine, nos servi 
iui, sed et plebs tua sancta). 

The faithful, however, are not excluded from the 
invitation to prayer; in fact, the ministers at the 
altar are but the representatives of the people. They 
are called fratres. We are all brethren, inasmuch 
as we all have one common Father, whom we ac- 
knowledge whenever we say: “Our Father, who art 
in heaven.” Or, as one of the earliest Christian 
writers has’ it: “/Whence is it that *you) are an 
brethren? Because we have one Father, Christ, and 
one Mother, the Church.” 7? 

Neither the invitation of the priest nor the answer 
of the people has always been expressed as it is in 
the Mass of today. Durandus, in the thirteenth 
century, makes the priest say: Orate pro me, fratres, 
et ego pro vobis. 

Our prayer is one more proof of the universality 
of our Sacrifice; it is offered by the priest: ut meum 
.. . Sacrificium (that my sacrifice) ; but it is likewise 
the people’s oblation: ac vestrum (and yours). 


21 Arnobius, Ia Psalm. cxxxiii. 


THE OFFERTORY 151 


Very beautiful indeed is the answer of the people. 
The Mass is offered, primarily, “to the praise and 
glory of God,” then for the peculiar benefit and 
advantage of those who take an immediate and per- 
sonal part in it; finally, for the help and profit of 
the universal Church. 

Since the holy Sacrifice is the Sacrifice of all and 
the highest act of worship that we can render to the 
majesty of God, we should unite with and include 
in this supreme and truly divine oblation all the 
prayers, efforts and sacrifices which make up our 
daily life. In the words of a contemporary servant 
of God, whom we have already quoted on several 
occasions (the foundress of the Daughters of the 
Sacred Heart): “Let us add to the sacrifice of the 
Mass whatever our misery can give: renouncements, 
sacrifices, sorrows, love without reserve. Jesus, who 
suffers now no longer, thirsts for our sufferings. He 
wishes to offer them, together with His own, to the 
glory of His Father and for the salvation of souls. 
Let us give them to Him generously and thus fill up, 
in ourselves, what is wanting to the sufferings of 
Christ, for the formation of His body, which 1s the 
Ghitrchsaa | 

A practical remark in connexion with the Orate 
fratres may not be amiss, and the writer hopes it 
may not be considered offensive. ‘The rubrics of the 
Ritus celebrandi®® prescribe very explicitly that, 
when the priest has kissed the altar before turning 
towards the people, he should do so demissts oculis 


22 Lettres de Mére Marie de Jésus, p. 289; cfr. Col., i, 24. 
23 VII, 7. 


152 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


ad terram (with his eyes lowered), and, when he 
has said the first words of his invitation to prayer 
(Orate fratres), he should at once turn round to- 
wards the altar, completing a full circle, and mean- 
while reciting secretly the remainder of the prayer. 
The whole movement should be slow and deliberate; 
but there must be no pause. The celebrant should 
remain facing the faithful no longer than it takes 
to say Orate fratres. ‘This rubric is not unfrequently 
set aside or forgotten. ‘Too often one sees priests 
taking advantage of the Orate fratres to make a 
deliberate halt in order to have a good look at the 
congregation. This practice is at variance with the 
spirit and letter of the rubric. 

It is a matter of debate among rubricists whether 
the server or other ministers should wait until the 
priest has finished his part of the Orate fratres be- 
fore beginning Suscipiat. ‘The directions given in 
the Missal do not clinch the matter. It is customary 
for the server to wait for a few moments—that is, 
at least until the priest once more faces the altar. 
However, it would not be in the least inappropriate 
to begin Suscipiat at once, inasmuch as this is the 
audible answer to the only audible part of the priest’s 
invitation to prayer. Possibly we have here an in- 
stance of what is so common in the Greek Liturgy; 
namely, the simultaneous recitation by the priest and 
the deacon, or choir, of prayers which were at one 
time said after one another. Furthermore, we know 
that for a considerable period the priest only said 
Orate fratres, or Orate pro me. What follows this 
invitation was added as an afterthought; it is only 


THE OFFERTORY 153 


a detailed statement of the object for which prayers 
are asked. When these clauses came to be added 
to the Orate fratres, they were said in silence. So 
there would seem to be no reason why the response, 
Suscipiat, should not at once follow the call to prayer. 
When the people’s response, spoken in their behalf 
by the server, is ended, the priest says Amen in a 
low voice, and at once turns to the Missal to read 
the secret prayers. 


Stems heoecret Prayer, (wecreta):. 


We have seen that our present Offertory prayers 
are of comparatively recent introduction. Originally 
there was but one prayer of oblation which was re- 
cited by the priest after the faithful had presented 
their gifts at the altar. In the Sacramentary (or 
Missal) of St. Gregory, this Offertory prayer is 
called Secreta; another name for it is Oratio super 
oblata. ‘The former name became the usual one 
during the Middle Ages. It was most appropriate, 
inasmuch as the prayer was and still is recited by 
the priest in a low, inaudible voice. It was thus 
recited even at a time when the Canon was still said 
in a clear, audible voice. ‘This silent prayer is not 
without its own significance. ‘Such is the nature of 
man,” says the Council of Trent, “that it cannot 
easily rise to the contemplation of the things of God 
without external help. Hence, like a kindly mother, 
Holy Church has adopted certain rites, and ordained 
that in the celebration of Mass certain things should 


154 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


be said m a low voice, others in a somewhat higher 
toler hs 

The reformers, in order to emphasize their con- 
ception of the priesthood as a mere delegated func- 
tion performed in the name of the people, ordered 
that the Liturgy (or what part of it they had re- 
tained) should be said aloud. For that reason the 
Council justifies the age-long tradition according to 
which certain parts of the Mass (especially the more 
solemn ones and above all the Canon) were to be 
said in secret. ‘The priest is no mere delegate or 
spokesman of the people; he is a true mediator be- 
tween God and man, dealing with God on behalf 
of man and offering sacrifice to the Most High on 
behalf of the people. The Secret is said inaudibly, 
because sacrifice is the exercise of a function proper 
to the priesthood. ‘The priest alone may offer vic- 
tims: “For every high priest taken from among 
men, is ordained for men in the things that appertain 
to God, that he may offer up gifts and sacrrfices for 
sins. Neither doth any man take the honor to him- 
self, but he that is called by God, as Aaron was.” *° 
In like manner, it is part of the priestly office to 
select the matter of the Sacrifice, to give it its pre- 
liminary sanctification and present it for God’s ac- 
ceptance. 

Thus, it comes to pass that the Secret is, in a 
peculiar manner, a priestly prayer, the prayer of a 
mediator. It is addressed to God, as a preliminary 


24 Sess. XXII, cap. V, De Sacrif. Miss. 
29 Fieb.,.'V. \1j)4. 


THE OFFERTORY 155 


of the Sacrifice, and ‘“‘in it the name oblatio is first 
used in connexion with our sacrifice.” 

The Secret is not preceded by Oremus. The Orate 
fratres may be looked upon as sufficient exhortation 
to pray. Moreover, before the Offertory chant the 
priest has already greeted the people and asked them 
to pray. The Oremus which precedes the Offertory 
antiphon is to be held as immediately preceding the 
Secret. Originally the Offertory prayers which now 
follow Oremus and precede the Secret, did not exist. 
The Secret is the original, and was for a long time 
the only prayer over the offerings (super oblata). 
As it is essentially a personal supplication of the 
celebrant in his role as sacrificing priest, there is no 
reason to call upon the people to pray with him at 
that particular moment. 

The structure of the Secret is identical with that 
of the Collect, the only difference being that, whereas 
the latter is a prayer suitable to any office of the 
day, the Secret invariably contains a direct reference 
to the objects offered upon the altar—sometimes 
also to the prayers, the devotion, and such like dis- 
positions of the faithful. In not a few of these 
prayers the thought of Holy Church is already of 
the Body and Blood of Christ which are so soon to 
take the place of the earthly elements now lying 
upon the altar. Thus, for instance, we pray in the 
Secret of the Fourth Sunday after Easter: Deus qut 
nos per hujus sacrificii veneranda commercia unius 
summe divinitatis participes effecisti. . . . Here we 
have an obvious reference, not to the bread and wine 


26 Durandus, De eccl. off., III, 20. 


156 PRIESTIVALD THESALTAR 


that are now on the altar, but to the divine realities 
which are to be substituted by the act of consecration. 

The names by which the priest frequently desig- 
nates the gifts which he presents for God’s accep- 
tance are such as the following: debitum servitutis 
nostre (“debt of our servitude,’’ that is, a moral, 
not a physical offering) ; oblationes; even sacrificium, 
by anticipation of course, as, for instance, in the 
beautiful Secret of the Seventh Sunday after Pente- 
cost: Deus ... accipe sacrificium a devotis tibi 
famulis . . . ut quod singuli obtulerunt ad majesta- 
tis tue honorem, cunctis proficiat ad salutem (O God 

. accept the sacrifice made to Thee by Thy de- 
voted servants . . . so that what each has offered 
to the honor of Thy majesty, may avail to the salva- 
tion of all). 

Very frequently the Secret contains a reference to 
the feast of the day or the mystery commemorated 
by the oblation of the holy Sacrifice, as well as to 
the gifts offered by the faithful for consecration by 
the priest. Hence the Secret, like the Collect, fre- 
quently gives us the keynote of our feasts and 
solemnities, and makes us ask for the spirit or the 
graces peculiar to the day or the time. We find a 
perfect instance of this in the Secret of the Mass 
of Easter, which we have hitherto used so often to 
illustrate these notes and comments on the Liturgy 
of the Mass: Suscipe, quesumus Domine, preces 
populi tui cum oblationibus hostiarum: ut Paschali- 
bus initiata mystertis, ad eternitatis nobis medelam, 
te operante, proficiant (Receive, we beseech Thee, 
O Lord, the prayers of Thy people together with 


THE OFFERTORY 157 


their offerings, so that the mysteries which have their 
origin in the Paschal festival, may, by Thy operation, 
become for us the means of everlasting life.” 

In this Secret we have allusions to the prayers of 
the people, as well as to their offerings in kind. The 
mystery of Easter (that is, its spiritual effect) is a 
birth to a new life, more precious than that of the 
body. The grace of this blessed day is so to instill 
the supernatural life into our soul that what is begun 
so graciously upon earth and in time, may endure 
unto all eternity in heaven. 

At the conclusion of the Secret, which like the 
Collect is said with hands extended and uplifted, the 
priest folds his hands, saying: Per (eumdum) 
Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, etc. ‘Thus 
is the Trinitarian character of the Church’s prayer 
Orescr ved wingene woccretikalson yc |esus: ‘Christi: is 
our Sacrifice, His Flesh and Blood are offered to 
the sweet majesty of God the Father, the Holy 
Ghost likewise codperating in the tremendous change 
wrought by the words of consecration. It is right, 
therefore, that in the act of oblation of the matter 
of the great Sacrifice express mention should be made 
of the Divine Three, for of them “‘is all our sufh- 
CIENCY sian 

The conclusion, Per omnia secula seculorum, is 
always said aloud in order to warn the assistants that 
the secret prayer is at an end. This raising of the 
voice is called ecphonesis by the Greeks, in whose 
Liturgy it is of frequent occurrence. ‘The words, 
Per omnia secula seculorum, do not mark the be- 


271T Cor., ili. 5. 


158 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


ginning of the Preface, as many people imagine. 
They are said aloud only in order to let the assistants 
know that the Preface is about to be said. ‘Their 
Amen is their joint, solemn ratification of the prayer 
of the priest, the expression of their moral oneness 


with him. 


CHAPTER XIV 
From the Preface to the Sanctus 


§ 1. The Preface. 
dane Preface, though its name and form may 


vary as rites differ, is common to all Liturgies. 
The name prefatio, properly speaking, is only used 
in the Roman Liturgy. In the Gallican Liturgy it 
is styled contestatio—that is, a simultaneous, public 
attestation of faith, or a solemn testimony of priest 
and people to the majesty of God. In the Mozarabic 
(or Spanish) Liturgy, it is called illatio, perhaps to 
describe the final offering or presentation in the 
sanctuary (inferre, illatum) of the gifts of the faith- 
ful. Cardinal Bona makes the suggestion that from 
the acclamations of the people the priest infers 
(illatio) that it is their wish to give praise and 
thanksgiving to God. It may be also that in the 
Preface our praise and prayer is carried into (in- 
fertur) the very sanctuary of heaven, since at its 
conclusion we expressly pray that our voices may be 
allowed to mingle with the chant of the court of 
heaven: Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti 
jubeas, deprecamur. 
The Preface is sometimes described as the begin- 
ning of the Canon—that is, the fixed and most sacred 
159 


160 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


part of the Mass. So it was considered, at any rate, 
for a considerable time. Thus, the Sacramentary 
(or Missa) of St. Gelasius has this rubric placed 
before the Preface: IJncipit Canon Actionis. We 
now look upon the Preface as a final and immediate 
preparation for the prayers of intercession and con- 
secration recited in the Canon, and the words Canon 
Misse are placed before the prayer, Te igitur, in 
all our Missals. | 

The characteristic note of the Preface in all Litur- 
gies is found to consist in an expression of praise 
and thanksgiving to God. So striking a uniformity 
is in itself a proof of high antiquity. Its origin must 
be sought as far back as apostolic days. We can 
readily imagine that whenever the Apostles carried 
out the command given them on the night in which 
the Lord was betrayed (Do this in memory of Me), 
they would not depart from what they had seen the 
Master do whilst they were at table with Him. Now 
we know that the singing of hymns of praise (the 
great Hallel), as well as certain blessings pronounced 
by the head of the household, were part of the Paschal 
supper. Our Lord officiated as priest according to 
the order of Melchisedech towards the close of the 
Last Supper, when at least part of the psalms which 
accompanied the Paschal repast would have been 
sung. “Taking bread, He gave thanks,” * and “in 
like manner, taking the chalice after He had supped”’ 
(similiter et calicem postquam cenavit).? Hence 
we may be sure that, as they were ‘‘continuing daily 


1 Luke, xxii. 19. 
2 Luke, xxii. 20; I Cor., x1. 25. 


FROM THE PREFACE TO THE SANCTUS 161 


with one accord in the temple and breaking bread 
from house to house,” * thanksgiving was an integral 
part of the liturgical act. Many authorities might 
be quoted to prove that it was so. Thus, for instance, 
the Preface in the Liturgy of St. James is a lengthy 
and detailed thanksgiving for the benefits of God in 
the order both of nature and grace. 

The Preface begins with a dialogue between the 
priest and the assistants. This also is of very great 
antiquity. Thus St. Cyprian (third century) writes: 
“When we stand at prayer [“orationem,’ oratio 
being Cyprian’s name for the Eucharistic prayer or 
sacrifice], we should be watchful, and give all our 
attention to it. Let every carnal and worldly thought 
depart, and let the whole energy of the mind be 
concentrated upon the object of our prayer. Hence 
it is that the priest says a Preface before the prayer 
[the Eucharistic oratio], that thereby he might dis- 
pose the minds of the brethren, saying Sursum corda, 
in order that, when the people answer Habemus ad 
Dominum, they may be admonished to think of 
naught but the Lord.” * 

Here we meet with the very word Preface, used 
in the same sense as we use it today. Gratias agamus 
Domino Deo nostro is mentioned by St. Augustine: 
“You know in what-Sacrifice the words are used: 
Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.’*® ‘The same 
holy Doctor, in fact, quotes the entire dialogue in 
different parts of his writings and bears witness to 


3 Acts, ii. 46. 
4 De orat. domin., XXXI. 
5 ED: ad Dardan,, 57. 


162 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


the universality of its use, as in the following in- 
teresting passage: ‘Daily, throughout the entire 
universe, the human race answers almost with one 
voice that they have their hearts on high with the 
Lord (humanum genus una pene voce respondet, 
sursum corda se habere ad Dominum).”* Equally 
interesting is the following piece: Inter sacra mys- 
teria cor habere sursum jubemur. Ipso adjuvante 
id valemus: et tdeo sequitur ut de hoc tanto bono 
‘Domino Deo gratias agamus, quia hoc dignum, hoc 
justum est recordari (In the sacred mysteries we are 
bidden to lift our hearts on high. By His help we 
are able to do so; hence it follows that we should 
‘give thanks to God’ for so great a good, for it is 
worthy, it is meet, that we should bear this in mind).’ 

The Greek Church uses our Sursum corda—in 
fact, our Latin exhortation is but a translation of 
an old Greek formula. Hence, the great African 
Doctor is fully justified when he asserts that prac- 
tically the entire human family knows the exhorta- 
tion which bids them raise their hearts on high, and 
that they are wont to reply that they do in effect keep 
them united to Him who dwelleth in the heights. 

Prefaces, we have seen, are common to all Litur- 
gies. The general disposition, or the main idea of 
their structure, is everywhere more or less identical: 
praise, worship, thanksgiving, supplication, are the 
keynote of all Prefaces. The oldest—also the most 
detailed—of all Prefaces is that found in the eighth 
book of the Constitutiones Apostolicae. 


6 De wera relig., Ill. 
7 De bono viduitatis, XVI. 


FROM THE PREFACE TO THE SANCTUS 163 


When the people’s responses have, as it were, 
assured the priest that their attention is truly fixed 
upon the sacred rites, he, in their name and his own, 
addresses the majesty of God the Father: Vere dig- 
num et justum est, equum et salutare (It is truly 
meet and just, right and salutary, that we should 
at all times and in all places give thanks to Thee, 
holy Lord, almighty Father, eternal God). Com- 
mentators give all kinds of explanations of dignum, 
justum, equum, salutare. The mind of the Church 
is to make her children realize that thanksgiving to 
God through Jesus Christ is a duty, a privilege and 
a source of grace (salutare). Gratitude for favors 
received is the surest means of obtaining yet further 
benefits—it is a law of the natural as well as of the 
supernatural order. 

The ordinary Preface does not specify the benefits 
of God for which thanks are rendered. These thanks 
are given per Christum Dominum nostrum. Through 
Him and with Him do all the heavenly hierarchies 
praise the majesty of God with a holy awe and Joy. 
With lowliest supplication we too pray that even our 
voices may be allowed to mingle with the voices of 
those who stand for ever around the throne of God. 

The Roman Liturgy knows only thirteen Prefaces. 
In the old Sacramentaries there are a great many 
more, of varying lengths and for all sorts of occa- 
sions. Thus, the Leonine Missal contains one for 
almost every day of the year. The Gregorian Sac- 
ramentary contains only ten, but an eleventh (that 
of Our Lady) was added by Urban If. Tradition 
has it that this Pope himself composed it, and sang 


164 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


it for the first time at the Synod of Gaustalla 
(1094). Two more have been added within the 
last few years—one in honor of St. Joseph and an- 
other for Requiem Masses. The last-mentioned 
Preface had long been in use in many dioceses before 
it was extended to the Universal Church. The sub- 
stance of its text is already found in the Sacramen- 
tary of St. Gregory; older Missals have the Preface 
with some slight variants, but, of course, the text 
as published by the Vatican Press is definitive. 

Like the Collects, the proper Prefaces invariably 
contain a special allusion either to the feast that is 
being kept or to the character of the time or the 
Mass itself, as in the instance of the Mass for the 
Dead. These allusions are always brief, but full 
of significance, and describe in terse and arresting 
phrase the spirit of the feast. 

The Preface of Easter will serve to illustrate our 
remarks. The Paschal Preface, like that of the 
Apostles, lacks a lengthy introduction: “It is truly 
meet and just, right and salutary to praise God at 
all times. Yet does it behove us to do this with 
even greater enthusiasm [we may be permitted so 
to translate gloriosius] at this time when Christ our 
Pasch is immolated.’’ Christ is declared to be “‘the 
true Paschal Lamb who took away the sins of the 
world, who by Himself dying destroyed our death, 
gave us a remedy against death, and by rising from 
the grave restored life to us.” In these words is 
described the mystical purport of our annual com- 
memoration of Christ’s Resurrection. The mystery 
of Easter is a mystery of life. We were dead by 


FROM THE PREFACE TO THE SANCTUS 165 


sin; the Lamb of God took away our guilt; by His 
bodily death He caused us to pass from spiritual 
death to a divine life. This divine life becomes a 
principle of everlasting and blissful existence even 
for our mortal body, which otherwise would of 
necessity share, in 1ts own way, the death of the soul. 
For, as the body is dead when it can no longer retain 
the soul and respond to its quickening influence, so 
is the soul in a manner dead when, owing to its per- 
version, it can no longer respond to the sweet influ- 
ence of God’s goodness. 

The conclusion of the Preface always contains a 
more or less complete enumeration of the Angelic 
choirs with whom we pray to be allowed to sing in 
unison: Et ideo cum Angelis et Archangelis, cum 
Thronis et Dominationibus, cumque omni militia 
celestis exercitus, hymnum gloria tue canimus. ... 
In the ordinary Preface the conclusion is somewhat 
different: It is meet and just that we—on earth— 
should always return thanks to our heavenly Father 
through Christ our Lord (per Christum Dominum 
nostrum), for He is our only Mediator and Advo- 
cate: “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the just;’* “There is one God and one 
Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.’’ ® 
In like manner do the heavenly choirs praise the 
majesty of God and exult in its presence with awe 
and trembling, through the same Christ, who is their 
Head as well as ours, ‘for in Him were all things 
created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, 


81 John, ii. 1. 
Se Pama aes: 


166 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, 
or powers. . . . And He is the Head of the body, 
the Church, who is the beginning . . . that in all 
things He may hold the primacy.” *° 

Angels and men owe their grace and glory, though 
diversely, to the one universal Mediator. The right 
order, therefore, demands that thanksgiving should 
be sent up to God through the same channel through 
which grace comes to every creature (that is, per 
Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum) 2? 

The Preface of the Apostles presents special 
points of interest. Its peculiarity consists in this, 
that it is directly addressed, not to God the Father, 
but to Jesus Christ, the true, supreme and immortal 
Shepherd of His flock. The Apostles keep ward 
and watch over Christ’s flock, but their pastoral 
ofhce is a vicarious one (quos operis tut vicarios 

. contulisti preesse pastores); in their person, 
by their ministry, Jesus Christ, the Pastor eternus, 
is for ever with His flock. “Behold I am with you 
all days, even to the consummation of the world.” 


§ 2. The Sanctus or Trisagion. 


In the concluding sentence of the Preface the 
priest prays that all the faithful may be permitted 
to mingle their voices with those of the Angels on 
high (Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti jubeas 


10 Col., i. 16, 18. 
11$t. Thom., Comment. in Ep. ad Rom., I. 
12 Matt. ult. ult. 


FROM THE PREFACE TO THE SANCTUS 167 


deprecamur, or, hymnum gloria tue canimus, sine 
fine dicentes . . .). The threefold Sanctus is found 
in all Liturgies, and is indeed one of the oldest fea- 
tures of the Eucharistic prayer. It is a song which 
earth has learned from heaven. Isaias first heard 
the chant of the “blessed Seraphim”: “In the year 
that King Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a 
throne high and elevated, and His train filled the 
temple. Upon it stood the seraphims . . . and they 
cried one to another, and said: Holy, Holy, Holy, 
the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of His 
SLOT Ts 

In the Apocalypse, St. John likewise saw four 
living creatures round about the throne, “and they 
rested not day and night, crying: Holy, Holy, Holy, 
Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who 
istorcome ji 

The thrice repeated exclamation Sanctus is a 
public profession of our faith in the mystery of mys- 
teries. Three times the Seraphs cry out “‘Holy,”’ 
to honor each of the three divine Persons, but the 
Three are but One Lord and God. 

It is not possible to ascertain when the Trisagion 
was introduced in the Liturgy. ‘Tertullian (end of 
second century) mentions its liturgical use when ex- 
horting to perseverance in prayer: “It is right at 
all times and in all places to bless God . . . whom 
those surrounding choirs of angels address without 
ceasing: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’” (cui illa Angelorum 
circumstantia non cessat dicere: Sanctus, Sanctus, 


13 1s., vi. 1-4. 
14 Apoc., iv. 6, 8. 


168 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Sanctus).° Clement I also speaks of its use. 
The Liber Pontificalis does not say, as some 
would have it, that Sixtus I (119-128) introduced 
it. What it afirms is, that this Pope ordained that 
priest and people should sing it together. ‘The ob- 
vious inference is that the priest recited it even before 
that time, but alone. 

The Council of Vaison in Gaul (A.D. 529) com- 
manded that the Sanctus be not omitted at any Mass, 
not even in Lent or at Masses said for the departed. 
It goes on to give a reason for this prescription: 
namely that “‘so sweet and delectable a word, even 
were it possible to say it day and night, cannot cause 
weariness’ (quia tam dulcis et desiderabilis vox, 
etiamsi diu noctuque possit dict, fastidium non potest 
generare).*® In the Middle Ages the Sanctus (like 
the Kyrie) was not unfrequently “farced” or inter- 
polated—an abuse which has happily disappeared 
without leaving any trace in our present Liturgy. 

The Sanctus of the Roman Mass is the common 
property of the Latin as well as of the Greek Church. 
It may not be uninteresting to remark here that there 
are two Trisagions—the one we have just spoken 
of, and that which the Latin Church sings on Good 
Friday only, but which is part of the daily Liturgy 
of Constantinople, namely Agios o Theos (Sanctus 
Deus, etc.). The fact that the hymn is so popular 
in the Greek Liturgy, and was used by the Fathers 
of the Council of Chalcedon (451), is indicative of 
great antiquity. It is certainly older than the date 


15 De orat., III. 
16 Cfr. Bona, Res. liturg., Il, ro. 


FROM THE PREFACE TO THE SANCTUS 169 


assigned to it by the legend according to which a 
boy, having been raised into the sky for the space 
of about an hour while the emperor and people of 
Constantinople were praying for preservation from 
an earthquake, heard the Angels sing: “Agios o 
Theos, etc.’ When the boy came down to earth once 
more, he told the people to repeat these acclama- 
tions, for thus would they be preserved from all 
harm. When he had delivered his message, the boy 
suddenly expired. 

Some liturgists distinguish three heavenly hymns, 
towit: the angelic, the cherubic andthe seraphic. ‘The 
angelic hymn is, of course, the Gloria in excelsis Deo. 
The cherubic hymn is one of the most beautiful 
liturgical pieces of the Greek Church, and derives 
its name from the opening words: ‘We, who mys- 
tically represent the Cherubim, sing the thrice-holy 
hymn to the life-giving Trinity. Let us put away 
all worldly care, so that we may receive the King 
of all, escorted by the angelic hosts. Alleluia.” 
Finally, there is the seraphic hymn, our Trisagion, 
deriving its name from the fact that the Prophet 
heard it on the lips of Seraphim and from the 
thrice-repeated dyws (hagios). 

The Trisagion ends upon a note of triumph: 
FTosanna in excelsis! Benedictus qui venit in nomine 
Domini! Hosanna is excelsis! The Church ac- 
claims the King of glory who is so soon to be upon 
our altar in the words with which the crowds wel- 
comed our Lord on the day of His triumphant entry 
into the Holy City: “The multitude that went be- 
fore and that followed cried, saying: Hosanna to 


170 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.” *” 

Our Lord truly comes in nomine Domini—that is, 
by the will of the Father, for ‘God so loved the 
world as to give His only begotten Son.” ** The 
Eucharistic Sacrifice which is even now being offered 
up, is but the continuation of the work of redemption 
accomplished by Christ upon the altar of the cross. 
To His presence upon the altar at Mass we may 
apply the words which Holy Church puts on our lips 
in the procession of Palm Sunday: Hic est qui ven- 
turus est in salutem populi. .. . Salve Rex, fabri- 
cator mundi, qui venisti redimere nos. Benedictus 
gut venisti in mulltitudine misericordia tue. 

Hosanna is one of those Hebrew words which 
have remained untranslated in order that the mind 
may be the more impressed. It is a cry of hope 
and yearning, of loyalty and love combined: Save 
us, save us now! Lord, Thou hast power to save, 
since Thou art the Master of heaven and earth! 
The first Hosanna may be considered as a cry ad- 
dressed to the three divine Persons, the last is an 
acclamation to Jesus Christ. When reciting the first 
Hosanna, the priest remains bowed before the cross 
as during the Sanctus. He stands erect when he 
recites Benedictus qui venit and the last Hosanna, 
making at the same time the sign of the cross. 


AT Matt, xxii, 
18 John, ti. 16. 


CHAPTER XV 
The Canon 


§ 1. Historical Origin of the Canon. 


I, have now come to the central and most im- 
portant part of the Liturgy of the Mass. All 
that has gone before has been only a preparation 
leading up to and preparing the mind for a sublime 
climax. Strictly speaking, the prayers, readings, or 
chants which precede the Canon, might be dropped 
either wholly or in part; they are no integral part 
of the Sacrifice; the consecration alone is the con- 
tinuation of what took place in the Upper Room 
and upon the Cross of Calvary. However, the rites 
and prayers which immediately precede and follow 
this divine act are a worthy accompaniment of the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice, each of them being, as it were, 
a precious pearl forming the setting of a priceless 
gem. 

The word canon (xavdv) signifies rule, law, fixed 
order. Thus, the laws or decrees promulgated by 
councils are called canons, as when we speak of the 
Canones et Decreta Concilit Tridentini. Then there 
is the Canon of the Scriptures—that is, the list, 
authentic and fixed for all time, of the books which 
Holy Church receives and gives to us as inspired, 

171 


172 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


that is, of divine origin, ‘‘for prophecy came not by 
the will of man at any time: but the holy men of 
God spoke, inspired by the Holy Ghost.” * 

The Canon of the Mass is the fixed and obligatory 
order which must be observed in the most important 
part of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. It 
forms that section of the Liturgy of the Eucharist 
which remains unalterable, save for a very few minor 
variations on certain great feasts of the year. 

Another name for the Canon is Prex (that is, the 
“prayer” par excellence). It is an expression made 
use of by St. Cyprian, Tertullian, St. Gregory. Yet 
another name is Actio. ‘The Canon is called Actio, 
because in it we have the lawful and regular per- 
formance of the Sacrament.” ? 

The Canon is not only a fixed rule to which we 
must inviolably adhere, but it is also the embodiment 
of the oldest and most primitive prayers and cere- 
monies. As such it is a rich inheritance, handed 
down to us from apostolic days. The Council of 
Trent speaks with great emphasis of the venerable 
antiquity and inherent sacredness of our Canon: 
“Since it is meet that holy things should be holily 
administered, and since this [the Mass] is of all 
sacrifices the holiest, the Catholic Church, in order 
to secure its worthy and reverent oblation and recep- 
tion, has formed many centuries ago the sacred 
Canon, so free from all error that naught is found 
therein that is not supremely redolent of a certain 
holiness and piety, so that the minds of those that 


11d) Peter. 
2Walafrid Strabo, De reb. eccl., 23. 


THE CANON 173 


offer, are thereby raised to God. For, indeed, it is 
made up of the very words of our Lord, the tradi- 
tions of the Apostles and the devout institutions of 
holy Pontiffs.” ° 

¢ The Council bases this declaration upon a book 
on the Sacrament attributed to St. Ambrose (and 
now generally acknowledged to be his), upon a letter 
of St. Augustine to Januarius, and on the works of 
several other ecclesiastical writers. For instance, St. 
Augustine, after quoting I Cor., xi. 20-24, which 
concludes with the words cetera cum venero dis- 
ponam (the rest I will set in order when | come), 
says: ‘Whence we are given to understand (for it 
would have taken too long to indicate in detail an 
order which the whole Church observes throughout 
the world) that he himself had established a prac- 
tice which is not subject to local changes” [Unde 
intelligt datur (quia multum erat ut in epistola totum 
illum agendi ordinem insinuaret, quem universa per 
orbem servat Ecclesia) ab ipso ordinatum esse quod 
nulla morum diversitate variatur|.4 True, Augustine 
speaks here only of fasting before Communion, but 
the inference is obvious, and the Council states that 
St. Paul had already laid down some rules—that is, 
had established some kind of Canon—for the orderly 
celebration of the Lord’s Supper. 

Speculation is rife among scholars about the date 
of the formation and fixation of the Canon of our 
Latin Mass. Some attribute it to Pope St. Damasus. 
What is certain is that our Canon has undergone 


3 Session XXII, cap. 4, De Sacrificio Missa. 
4Ep. liv. ad Gordian., 8. 


174 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


no change or alteration since the days of St. Gregory 
the Great. But this great Pope cannot be said to 
have been the real author of the Canon. All he did 
was to revise finally the formularies of the Gelasian 
Sacramentary (end of the fifth century), though 
even Pope Gelasius must have used material handed 
down from earlier ages. John the Deacon tells us 
in his Life of St. Gregory that the Pontiff ‘condensed | 
within the limits of one volume the Gelasian codex 
of Masses, omitting much, changing little, and add- 
ing some (multa subtrahens, pauca convertens. 
non nulla vero superadjiciens); and in the Canon 
he added the words: diesque nostros in tua pace 
disponas, atque ab eterna damnatione nos eript, et 
in electorum tuorum jubeas grege numerart’ (dis- 
pose our days in Thy peace, and command us to be 
delivered from eternal damnation and numbered in 
the flock of Thine elect). 

One of the arguments by which medieval liturgists 
sought to prove the high antiquity of the Canon is 
that the list of the Apostles contained therein differs 
from that which is found in the Vulgate, a version 
completed towards the end of the fourth century. 
Again, among the Saints whose names are mentioned 
in the Canon, there occur only those of martyrs, the 
cultus of confessors being a later development. 

Medieval liturgists are wont to divide the Canon 
into two sections, the Canon of the Consecration and 
that of the Communion. However, the Canon prop- 
erly begins with the prayer Te igitur and ends before 
the Pater noster. ‘‘When the Preface is ended,” 
says the Ritus Celebrandi Missam, VIII, 1, “the 


THE CANON 175 


priest . . . bowing profoundly, begins the Canon, 
saying in a very low voice: Te igitur.’ As for the 
conclusion, St. Gregory says that mox post precem 
(‘‘shortly after the prayer,’ by which he means the 
Canon, or consecration prayer) the Pater noster is 
recited. 

Each of the prayers of the Canon has been at- 
tributed to some Pope; for instance, Te igitur is said 
to be St. Clement’s. However, these assertions are 
very far from proven. On the other hand, in the 
book De Sacramentis, attributed to St. Ambrose, we 
find the complete text of the prayers Quam obla- 
tionem, Qui pridie quam pateretur, Unde et memores, 
Supra que propitio. 


§ 2. The Solemnity of the Ceremonies. 


There is an element of secrecy and mysteriousness 
about the Canon, and an added solemnity arises from 
the fact that its prayers are recited by the celebrant 
alone and in silence. The Gloria and Credo, the 
Sanctus and Agnus Dei, are recited by the celebrant 
and his assistants. But always and under all circum- 
stances the Canon is the prayer of him alone who 
offers the adorable Sacrifice: Solus Pontifex, et 
tacito, intrat in Canonem (The Pontiff alone and in 
silence begins the Canon), says the Ordo Romanus 
II. The only exception to this rule is the Mass of 
Ordination, when the newly ordained priests recite 
all the prayers aloud with the bishop. When the 
custom was general for several priests to celebrate 
together (concelebratio), it was obvious that the 


176 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Canon had to be recited in an audible voice. Litur- 
gists and medieval commentators generally see some 
wonderful mystical reasons for the silent recitation 
of the Canon. ‘The Canon is recited in silence be- 
cause this immolation pertains to the priest alone’’ 
(Canon secreto agitur eo quod hac immolatio ad 
solum pertinet sacerdotem) ; and again ‘‘to show that 
human reason cannot fully grasp so great a mys- 
tery.” Thus wrote Sicardus of Cremona at the end 
of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth 
century. 

The priest at the altar is a mediator between God 
and man. He speaks and acts in the name and in 
the person of the one perfect “mediator of God and 
men, the man Christ Jesus.” * Our Lord was alone 
in the garden, alone upon the cross, alone also did 
He enter the Holy of Holies: “I have trodden the 
wine-press alone: and of the Gentiles there is not a 
man with Me.’ ® His own loneliness at the altar, 
and the silence in which he is wrapped as in a gar- 
ment, should help the priest to a realization of the 
sublimity of the tremendous action he is about to 
accomplish. ‘To emphasize yet more the sacredness 
of this part of the Mass, it was customary in the 
Middle Ages to draw the curtains which were hung 
on either side of the altar, so as to enfold the priest, 
and, as it were, wrap the altar, as when “the glory 
of the Lord filled the temple.” 7 

The late Dr. A. Fortescue, whose untimely death 


ST bimea jit is. 
6Is., Ixili. 3. 
ALS. RMLs r 


THE CANON 177 


was an immense loss for liturgical studies, quotes a 
story which, he says, “were it the true reason for 
our silent Canon, would fix the date of the rule, 
because the tale is related by John Moschus, who 
died in 619.” The story is that some boys in Pales- 
tine were playing “at church.’ As is the wont of 
pious boys, they were “saying Mass,” and even re- 
peated the words of consecration, as they heard them 
said in church, when fire came from heaven, de- 
stroyed their altar, and nearly consumed _ the 
would-be priests. When they had recovered from 
their fright, they told the local bishop what had 
happened. From that time the custom began of 
saying the consecration prayer silently to shield it 
from future profanation.® 

Whatever may have originated the rule of secrecy 
and silence, no one can question its singular appro- 
priateness. The Mass is not a prayer-meeting— 
the priest does not merely “lead the people in 
prayer, to quote our non-Catholic friends’ expres- 
sion; he offers a sacrifice of priceless value to the 
majesty of God. The holy silence which falls upon 
the assembly, the solemn hush around the altar, 1s 
well calculated to make even the thoughtless realize 
the awful grandeur of the hour. Quam terribilis est 
hac hora! (How terrible is this hour!), the deacon 
cries out in the Syrian Liturgy. 

The first prayer of the Canon begins with the 
words, Te igitur. A few words may be said here 
on the way in which the Canon is printed in our 
Missals. To emphasize its importance (as well as 


8 Cfr. Fortescue, The Mass, p. 326. 


178 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


for greater facility in reading it) and to mark its 
sacredness, the text is printed in larger type than 
the remainder of the Mass. Moreover, the first 
letter of the opening prayer naturally lends itself to 
elaborate illumination or decoration, the nature of 
which is suggested by the very appearance of the 
letter T, which is simply a cross—an emblem, there- 
fore, of the sacrifice-of Calvary of which the Mass 
is the continuation and reénactment. One naturally 
turns to Ezechiel, where we find a symbolic and 
prophetic allusion to the letter T and the idea of 
the cross: “And the Lord said: Go through the 
midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, 
and mark Tau (T) upon the foreheads of the men 
that sigh, and mourn . . . upon whomsoever you 
shall see Tau, kill him not.” ® 

From the configuration of T the custom arose of 
painting a figure of Christ crucified on the first page 
of the Canon, the cross being simply the first letter 
of the Te igitur. In course of time these pictures of 
the Crucified, from being simple miniatures, became 
of such size as to take up a goodly part of the first 
page of the consecration prayers. We now have, in 
our Roman Missal, a full-page picture of the Cru- 
cifixion, but the sacred image is no longer part of 
the printed text, or of the first word of the opening 
prayer. 

Another feature of the Canon is the frequent 
tracing of the sign of the cross over the elements, 
both before and after consecration. “Twenty-five 
times is the sign of the cross thus made. Medieval 

9 Ezech., ix. 4, 6. 


THE CANON 179 


liturgists read many mystical significations into these 
crosses and blessings. St. Thomas gives the best and 
the obvious explanation, when he says that “‘the 
priest in celebrating Mass uses the sign of the cross 
to express the passion of Christ, which terminated 
on the cross” (sacerdos in celebratione Misse@ utitur 
crucis signatione ad exprimendam passionem Christi, 
que ad crucem est terminata). ‘The crosses traced 
over the Sacred Elements after consecration are not, 
according to the Angelic Doctor, for the purpose of 
blessing or consecrating, “‘but only to commemorate 
the virtue of the cross and the manner of Christ’s 
passion’ (sed solum ad commemorandam virtutem 
crucis et modum passionis Christi) .?° 

Nothing could be more impressive or dignified 
than the ceremonies which precede and accompany 
the opening prayer of the Canon. The Ritus cele- 
brandi, placed at the beginning of the Roman Missal, 
is very precise and definite in its directions. As soon 
as he has said Hosanna in excelsis, the priest, stand- 
ing erect before the altar, raises his hands and like- 
wise his eyes to God (ad Deum, says the rubric). 
Immediately afterwards, he devoutly (devote) 
lowers his eyes and folds his hands, places them upon 
the edge of the altar-table, and, bowing profoundly, 
he begins the Canon, saying silently Te igitur. Such 
an elaborate ceremony is in itself a supplication. The 
whole attitude, in fact, of the priest during the 
Canon is one of humility and supplication. When- 
ever he is not actually carrying out some ceremony, 
he stands almost continuously with hands extended, 


10 Summa Theol., III, Q. Ixxxili, a. 5. 


180 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


like the figures of the orantes which we see in the 
early Christian paintings on the walls of the Cata- 
combs of Rome. Since the priest officiates in the 
name and person of Jesus Christ, it is but meet that 
his very attitude should represent our High Priest 
pleading, praying, sacrificing Himself upon the altar 
of the cross. 

It should be noted that, according to the best in- 
terpretation of the rubric, Te igitur should only be 
begun after the priest has extended his hands, raised 
his eyes, and bowed before the cross. 

The prayers of the Canon are all addressed to 
God the Father. The three first have one common 
conclusion. We may consider the three as forming 
substantially but one prayer; in fact, the whole 
Canon, to be properly understood, should be looked 
upon as forming one continuous prayer. Only thus 
can we understand some of the expressions used be- 
fore the consecration, which speak of the unconse- 
crated elements in terms which are literally true only 
after it. Scholars have devised many varying 
theories in their efforts to explain the origin and 
formation of the Roman Canon. Some say that the 
two Mementos were at first said before the Preface; 
in like manner the T'e igitur and the Nobis quoque 
peccatoribus. Be this as it may, let us take the Canon 
as we find it today. It is surrounded by the halo of 
venerable antiquity, since it has undergone no change 
or alteration during more than thirteen centuries. 
It is an uplifting thought to realize, as we repeat 
the words of the Canon morning after morning, that 
we utter the selfsame words which have so often 


THE CANON 181 


lingered on the lips of martyrs and doctors, of 
bishops and priests of every race and country where 
the majesty of the Roman Rite and the stately dig- 
nity of the Latin tongue were known and revered. 


§ 3. The Prayers before the Consecration. 


The opening prayer of the Canon is a humble sup- 
plication to our most merciful Father (Te igitur 
clementissime Pater) through His Son Jesus Christ, 
our Lord, that He would receive and bless our offer- 
ings. The conjunction, igitur, is not easily explained. 
It may have been placed here in order to express 
the intimate connexion of the prayer of consecration 
with the hymn of praise which we have sung in the 
Preface and Sanctus; it may be here merely for the 
sake of emphasis. 

Let us note in the first place that the priest speaks 
in the plural. Like the Sacrifice of the Cross, the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice is a universal one. The Mass 
is the act of the Church, accomplished on behalf of 
the Church—that is, for the pastors and the sheep 
and the lambs entrusted to their care. Hence we 
make explicit mention of the Pope, the universal 
shepherd, of the diocesan bishop, and finally of all 
those who profess the Catholic and Apostolic Faith. 

Le igitur . . . supplices rogamus ac petimus utt 
accepta habeas et benedicas hac dona, hec munera, 
hec sancta sacrificia illibata (Wherefore, we humbly 
pray and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst vouchsafe 
to accept and bless these gifts, these presents, these 
holy unspotted sacrifices). It has been suggested 


182 PRIEST ATC LE ALTAR 


that the plural “we (rogamus, petimus) is to be 
explained by the ancient practice of concelebration. 
But, as we have shown already, the silent recitation 
of the Canon is of great antiquity. Hence it is a 
more natural explanation of the plural, if we see in 
these prayers an utterance of the priest in his 
capacity as official mediator in behalf of the people. 
The faithful pray with the priest, and he treats with 
God in their behalf. Moreover, the gifts upon the 
altar have been offered by the people—their gifts 
and oblations become truly a spotless sacrifice when 
the priest changes the bread and wine presented by 
them into the Sacred Flesh and Blood of the Son 
of God. 

The priest’s first request is for the peace of the 
Church, a peace that springs from external security 
and internal unity and harmony: quam pacificare, 
custodire, adunare et regere digneris (to which 
vouchsafe to grant peace, as also protect, unite and 
govern it). 

When he has prayed for the Universal Church 
and her chief Pastor, the priest passes on to the 
second prayer of the Canon, the Memento, Domine, 
famulorum famularumque tuarum (Be mindful, O 
Lord, of Thy servants and handmaids). Here the 
priest mentions the names of those persons for whom 
he wishes to pray in a special manner. He makes 
a short pause and pronounces the names silently or 
only mentally. In this practice we have a survival 
of the old-time reading of the diptychs—that is, of 
the lists or catalogues of persons in communion with 
the Church, or of such as had died in the profession 


THE CANON 183 


of the Catholic Faith. The names of the living were 
read from the diptychs before the Consecration, 
those of the dead after it. The humility, but as- 
sured confidence, of the prayer is most remarkable. 
Memento! We only ask for a remembrance by the 
Lord of infinite mercy, certain that, if He will but 
think of us and of our friends, all our wants shall 
most assuredly be satisfied. It is thus we see the 
Saints pray in the holy Books: Memento Domine 
David, et omnis mansuetudinis ejus (O Lord, res 
member David and all his meekness).**7 Memento 
mei, Deus meus, in bonum (Remember me, O my 
God, unto good).** On the cross, likewise, the good 
thief asked but for a remembrance: Memento mei, 
Domine, cum veneris in regnum tuum (Lord, re- 
member me when Thou shalt have come into Thy 
kingdom ) .** 

The priest goes on to pray for those who are now 
assisting at Mass, who stand or kneel around the 
altar (ef omnium circumstantium), and thus take an 
immediate part in the sacrifice, by reason also of 
their having supplied the material elements of our 
oblation. The words qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrificium 
laudis . . . tibique reddunt vota sua (who offer up 
to Thee this sacrifice of praise . . . and who pay 
their vows to Thee), must be understood to refer 
to the offerings in kind made by the faithful at the 
Offertory. The sublime nature and efficacy of our 
Sacrifice is beautifully described in the course of the 


11 Ps,, cxxxi. 1. 
1211 Esd., xiii. 31. 
18 Luke, xxl. 42. 


184 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


prayer. The Mass is called sacrificium laudis, a sac- 
rifice of perfect praise and acknowledgment of 
God’s excellence, one that is endowed with power 
to save our souls and to procure everlasting security 
even for the body. ‘The body shares in the salvation 
and well-being (incolumitas) of the soul in its own 
way, through a glorious immortality. 

The third prayer of the Canon is headed Infra 
actionem (During the Action). ‘This rubric may, at 
first sight, appear rather purposeless, since the pre- 
ceding prayers have also been said infra actionem. 
However, it is easy to account for the origin and 
position of the rubric. The third prayer is the only 
one of those found in the Canon which, together 
with the Hanc igitur in Easter and Whit-week, ad- 
mits of a slight change or addition on certain solemni- 
ties. [hese additions or changes are printed in our 
Missals immediately after the proper Prefaces of 
these same feasts; thus, the words Infra actionem 
serve simply as a reminder to the priest to revert 
to this part of the Missal when he reaches the prayer 
Communicantes which he reads in the unchanging 
part of the book. In course of time the rubric came 
to be inserted in the Canon itself. The brief addi- 
tion to the Communicantes invariably contains a 
reference to the mystery celebrated that day. The 
prayer begins with two participles: Communicantes 
et memoriam venerantes (Communicating with and 
venerating the memory). Several explanations have 
been offered, but the easiest and most natural is to 
interpret the words as if they were in the indicative: 
Communicamus et memoriam veneramur (We com- 


THE CANON 185 


municate and venerate the memory). In justification 
of this interpretation we may refer to II Mach., i. 6: 
Et nunc hic sumus orantes pro vobis (And now here 
we are praying for you), the participle here implying 
insistence or perseverance in prayer. 

Our sacrifice is not only beneficial to the children 
of Holy Church as yet fighting the battles of this 
life; it likewise procures honor to those who have 
already reached the goal of everlasting life, inas- 
much as in the Mass we magnify the grace of God 
in them, a grace that came to them from this uni- 
versal source of all blessings. Moreover, the Saints 
are able and willing to help us. We are not strangers 
to them, because the whole Church is the body of 
Christ, and our common membership in the mystical 
body of Jesus Christ gives us a claim to the per- 
petual intercession of the friends of God whose 
memory we honor upon earth (quorum meritis pre- 
cibusque concedas ut in omnibus protectionts tue 
muniamur auxilio). 

The Communicantes contains an enumeration of 
twenty-four Saints—or twenty-five, if we include the 
special mention of the Queen of all Saints. The 
terms in which the blessed Mother of God is spoken 
of are noteworthy, for they bear witness to the 
unique position which Mary holds in the kingdom 
of grace, and the peculiar veneration which the 
Church has bestowed upon her from the beginning. 
In primis (first and foremost) in our remembrance 
comes the glorious and ever virginal Mary, the 
Mother of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The very 
omissions in the Canon testify to its antiquity, quite 


186 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


as much as do the Saints whose names occur in it. 
Thus, St. Joseph’s name is not mentioned for the 
simple reason that his cultus is of comparatively re- 
cent date. St. Teresa may be said to have been the 
first apostle of popular devotion to the foster-father 
of our Lord. 

After our blessed Lady, memory is made of the 
Twelve Apostles, St. Paul, however, being men- 
tioned in the place of St. Matthias. After the names 
of the Apostles come those of twelve holy martyrs, 
five of whom are popes, one a bishop, one a deacon, 
and five laymen. In this list we see a further proof 
of the venerable antiquity of the prayers of the 
Canon, because, in the early centuries of the Church, 
martyrs alone were the objects of a liturgical cultus. 
All these martyrs with the exception of St. Cyprian, 
either lived or suffered in Rome, or at least were 
buried there, and thus became objects of special 
veneration on the part of the local Church of Rome. 
Hence their admission into the Canon. It must be 
borne in mind that our Mass and Canon is that of 
the local Church of Rome. Linus, Cletus and 
Clement were the immediate successors of St. Peter. 
St. Xystus, or Sixtus I], was Pope in the middle of 
the second century. He was preceded by Cornelius 
in the chair of St. Peter, but, because the feast of 
that holy Pontiff and that of St. Cyprian were kept 
on the same day, they are mentioned together in 
the Canon. St. Chrysogonus was martyred at 
Aquileia in 304. Sts. John and Paul are famous in 
ecclesiastical history. They were men of great 
wealth and held important positions at court. When 


THE CANON 187 


they saw the envy of Julian the Apostate and his 
hatred for the Christian religion, they made haste 
to distribute among the poor of the city the treasures 
which might otherwise have fallen into the hands of 
a greedy tyrant. Their memory was very dear to 
the Roman people. In her Liturgy, Holy Church 
says of them that they are “two olive trees, and two 
torches burning before the Lord: they have power 
to cover the sky with clouds and to open its gates, 
for their tongues have become the keys of heaven.” *4 
Sts. Cosmas and Damian were brothers; they were 
born in Arabia, and suffered death for Christ at 
Cilicia in 297. Their relics have been greatly 
venerated in Rome since the beginning of the sixth 
century. 

The prayer Hanc igitur pleads once more for a 
favorable acceptance of our offering. By the words 
servitutis nostre (of our servitude), we are to under- 
stand the priest and his ministers. But the sacrifice 
is not theirs only, but cuncte familie tue (of Thy 
whole family). The clause diesque nostros in tua 
pace disponas, etc. (dispose our days in Thy peace 
etc.), was added by St. Gregory the Great. While 
reciting this prayer, the priest spreads his hands over 
the oblata. ‘This ceremony dates from the fifteenth 
century, and became law in the Missal of St. Pius V. 
During the whole week of Easter and Pentecost the 
prayer is slightly altered by a reference to the re- 
cently baptized catechumens. On Maundy Thursday 
allusion is made to the institution of the Holy Eucha- 
rist on that same day. 


14 Antiph, ad Magnif., II Vesp., June 26. 


188 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


The fifth prayer, Quam oblationem, is held by 
some commentators to be the equivalent of the fam- 
ous epiclesis of the Greek Liturgy. However, the 
Holy Ghost is not invoked in it. Our invocation is 
addressed to God the Father, since we pray that, 
by accepting our offering, God would make it the 
Body and Blood of His most dear Son, our Lord 
Jesus Christ. The five epithets applied to our obla- 
tion (benedictam, adscriptam, ratam, rationabilem, 
acceptabilemque) are not easy to explain. They may 
be thus translated: ‘“‘Do Thou, O God, render this 
our oblation wholly blessed, legitimate, valid, reason- 
able and acceptable.’”’ ‘The Mass is an authentic, 
Jawful and valid sacrifice by reason of its being the 
faithful carrying out of our Lord’s injunction to the 
Apostles, after He had Himself celebrated the first 
Mass: “Do this in memory of Me.” Through the 
wondrous change which takes place at the moment 
of the consecration, our offering becomes most truly 
rationalis (reasonable), since mere bread and wine 
are changed into the Flesh and Blood of Him in 
whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge. Perhaps the words are an allusion to 
the saying of the Apostle: “I beseech you . . . that 
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleas- 
ing unto God, your reasonable service.” * If the 
spiritual sacrifice whereby we give ourselves to God 
is a “reasonable service,’ how much more truly such 
is the sacrifice in which we offer God’s own Son as 
a saving Victim! Such an offering must be acceptable 
to God, because of the infinite worth and dignity of 


15 Rom., xii. 1. 


THE CANON 189 


the Victim which lies, mystically slain, upon our altar, 
for it is that beloved Son of His in whom the Father 
is well pleased. 

Ut nobis corpus et sanguis fiat dilectissimi Filit tui 
(that it may become for us the Body and Blood of 
Thy most beloved Son), these words are calculated 
to fill our hearts with joyful confidence. For us— 
for our temporal and eternal well-being—God ac- 
complishes the stupendous miracle of the Mass. On 
Christmas night the Angels bade the shepherds 
rejoice because “this day is born to you a Saviour.” *° 
Nobis datus, nobis natus (Given for us, born for us), 
sings St. Thomas. For us the daily sacrifice is 
offered; for us, no less than for the glory of the 
Father, Christ is mystically sacrificed upon ten thou- 
sand altars, as long as the world shall endure. 


16 Luke, i, rx. 


CHAPTER XVI 
The Consecration 


§ 1. The Climax of the Mass. 


WE have now reached the climax of the mystery 
of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. What has gone 
before has all been by way of preparation. The 
preliminary prayers recited at the foot of the altar, 
the song of praise in the Gloria, the selected readings 
from our Holy Books, the public profession of our 
faith in the Credo, have brought our minds and 
hearts into harmony with the tremendous thing that 
is about to take place upon the altar. At the Offer- 
tory the faithful people have presented the material 
elements of the sacrifice, and the priest has received 
and blessed them and offered them for God’s ac- 
ceptance. A solemn hush has fallen upon the 
assembly. Since the recitation of the Sanctus even 
the priest’s voice has remained dumb. He prays in 
silence, communing alone with God, as did Moses on 
the summit of Sinai. And indeed, since the Mass 
and Calvary are substantially one and the human 
priest does but act and speak in the name and person 
of the one perfect High Priest, his silent prayer and 
his loneliness at the altar are verily reminiscent of 
the awful loneliness of Jesus upon the altar of the 
cross. 
190 


THE CONSECRATION Ig! 


Without doubt the moment of the consecration is 
the most wonderful of all those instants of fleeting 
time which make up the history of our world. In 
those precious moments there takes place something 
that can only be compared to the creative act of God, 
when in the beginning, at His bidding, light burst 
forth from darkness. In virtue of the words of 
consecration, what is nothing more than bread and 
wine—perishable elements—is changed into the 
Body and Blood of the Incarnate Son of God. 
Transubstantiation is the word by which Catholic 
theology describes this stupendous change. The sub- 
stance of bread and wine—that is, the ultimate 
reality which underlies and sustains the sensible quali- 
ties by which we know these elements—is changed 
into something infinitely precious, something in- 
finitely greater than mere food and drink. It would 
not be right to say that the substance of bread and 
wine simply ceases to be, or that it is merely replaced 
by the substance of the Body and Blood of our Lord. 
Bread does indeed cease to exist as such, but the 
words of consecration are not destructive; on the 
contrary, they are productive of a reality greater 
than the one that existed until now. ‘There is a 
change, an alteration, call it what you will, by which 
bread is converted into the living Flesh of the Son 
of God. The Fathers generally, and St. Thomas in 
particular, when speaking of the words of consecra- 
tion, say that the priest makes or produces (conficit) 
the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. In the prayer 
of Gregory XIII, which is found at the beginning 
of our Missal, Holy Church desires priests to direct 


192 PRIEST. AT THE ALTAR 


their intention in this wise: Ego volo celebrare Mis- 
sam, et conficere corpus et sanguinem Domini nostri 
Jesu Christi. 

When we pronounce the words of consecration, 
we do not draw Christ down from heaven. He is 
seated at the right hand of God the Father, and shall 
only rise from His throne of glory upon the last 
day, when all eyes shall behold Him coming in the 
clouds of heaven. When the priest stands at the 
altar morning after morning, he accomplishes an 
even more stupendous thing, for by the exercise of 
his divinely-given powers he is able so to change 
bread and wine that these perishable things become 
the immortal Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ. Such 
is the meaning and import of transubstantiation. 
Only thus can our Lord begin to be really upon our 
altars without leaving His place in heaven. But let 
us hear the Angelic Doctor himself: “There are two 
ways in which a thing can be conceived as beginning 
to be where it was not before, that is, either by a 
local movement, or by a substantial change of that 
where it is said to be now; as fire is in a house in a 
new manner, either because it has been taken thither 
from outside, or because it has been produced within. 
But it is manifest that Christ’s Body does not begin 
to be in the Sacrament by any kind of local move- 
ment, for in that case He would be no longer in 
heaven, since that which is moved by local motion 
(that is, from one place to another) does not reach 
its new location until it has left its former one. 
Moreover, one and the same movement of one and 
the same thing cannot have different objectives. Yet 


THE CONSECRATION 193 


Christ begins to exist simultaneously in this Sacra- 
ment in several places. It follows, therefore, that 
Christ’s body cannot be said to enter upon a new 
existence in this Sacrament, except by the change of 
the substance of bread into Himself.” * 

To the uninitiated these words may seem but a 
bald and obscure statement of the incomprehensible. 
To the priest and the theologian they are like a 
revelation, throwing a flood of light upon one of the 
deepest of the mysteries of divine wisdom and 
power. We shall not get a vital hold of the dogma 
of the Real Presence and the living reality of the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice, until we think in terms of tran- 
substantiation. “Christ’s body and blood are truly 
contained in the Sacrament of the altar, under the 
species of bread and wine, the bread being transub- 
stantiated into His Body and the wine into His 
Blood.” ? 

Holy Church has always stated the mystery of the 
Real Presence of our Lord in terms of transubstan- 
tiation. We cannot lay too much stress on this car- 
dinal point of the Church’s teaching. We are the 
ministers, and the words we utter at Mass are the 
instrument by means of which the miracle is brought 
about. “Before the consecration, we confess it sin- 
cerely, there is but bread and wine, formed by 
nature; but after the consecration, there is the Flesh 
and Blood of Christ, consecrated by our blessing.” * 
‘The body assumed by our Lord has not come down 


1Summa Theol., III, Q. Ixxv, a. 2. 
2Concil. Trid., Sess. XIII, c. 4. 
3§t. Augustine, cfr. Concil. Trid., loc. cit. 


194 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


from heaven, but the bread and wine are changed 
into the Body and Blood of Christ.””* The Fathers 
of Trent quote these words and identify themselves 
with them, so that they become an authentic and 
ofhcial expression of the mind of the Church. 


§ 2. The Words of Consecration. 


Let us now ponder the very words of consecra- 
tion. Qui pridie quam pateretur accepit panem 
(Who the day before He suffered took bread). In 
all Rites, reference is made, in this part of the 
Canon, to the scene enacted in the Upper Room on 
the eve of the Passion. ‘The Mass is essentially a 
memorial of the Passion (recolitur memoria Pas- 
sionis ejus). On Maundy Thursday there is a slight 
addition to the first clause of the consecration prayer: 
“Who the day before He suffered for the salvation of 
us and all men, that is, on this day, took bread” (Qui 
pridie quam pro nostra omniumque salute pateretur, 
id est, hodie . . . accepit panem). The priest does 
in his own person what he relates of his Master. 
Whilst reciting these words, he also takes the host, 
the Eucharistic bread, into his hands. The hands 
of Jesus are the hands of omnipotence: they are holy 
and worthy of all reverence (sanctas ac venerabiles). 
Let us priests see to it that our poor mortal hands 
be at least free from all stain of sin. For that reason 
were they blessed and anointed with oil in the solemn 
hour of our ordination. It is a salutary exercise for 
priests frequently to recall to mind that great mo- 


4St. Jehn Damascene, cfr. Concil. Trid., loc. cit. 


THE CONSECRATION roe 


ment of our lives when the Bishop prayed over them: 
Consecrare et sanctificare digneris, Domine, manus 
istas, per istam unctionem et nostram benedictionem, 
ut quecumque benedixerint, benedicantur, et quecum- 
que consecraverint, consecrentur, in nomine Domini 
nostri Jesu Christi (Deign to consecrate and sanctify, 
O Lord, these hands, by this unction and our bless- 
ing, that whatsoever they shall have blessed, may be 
blessed, and whatsoever they shall have consecrated, 
may be consecrated, in the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ). Thus did the bishop pray whilst he anointed 
and consecrated our hands on the first day of our 
priesthood. 

Et elevatis oculis in celum ad te Deum, Patrem 
suum omnipotentem (and with eyes lifted up to 
heaven unto Thee, God, His almighty Father). The 
Evangelist does not relate that our Lord raised His 
eyes to heaven in the act of consecration, but the 
statement here made is based on apostolic tradition. 
The clause may have been introduced into the form 
of consecration through a reminiscence of another 
great scene in our Lord’s life (one that is most 
clearly prophetic of the Eucharist), namely, the mul- 
tiplication of the loaves. Every one of the Synoptics 
relates that Christ looked up to heaven before He 
blessed the bread with which He fed the multitude 
which had followed Him into the wilderness. We 
may gather from this insistence upon the fact of our 
Lord’s raising His eyes to heaven that He was wont 
to do so whenever He blessed bread or any other 
object. Hence, He would not have omitted this 
symbolic act at the moment of performing a miracle, 


196 PRIEST. AT THE ALTAR 


of which the multiplication of the loaves, wonderful 
as it was, was yet no more than the prophetic shadow. 
Tibi gratias agens, benedixit, fregit, deditque dis- 
cipulis suis, dicens: Accipite et manducate ex hoc 
omnes (Giving thanks to Thee, blessed, broke and 
gave it to His disciples, saying: Take and eat ye all 
of this). Whilst saying Tibi gratias agens, the priest 
bows the head. At the word benedixit, he blesses 
the host by making the sign of the cross over it. 
Before uttering the actual words of consecration, the 
celebrant collects himself yet more earnestly. Silence 
reigns in the sanctuary. Bending low over the altar 
and holding the spotless bread in both hands, he 
pronounces the tremendous words by which the King 
of Glory becomes present upon the altar. These 
words must be pronounced distinctly, with reverence 
and in a whisper (distincte, reverenter et secreto). 
The priest utters them, not historically (as one who 
relates an event which happened long ago), but 
effectively; that is, he intends to do that which the 
words signify, and what Jesus did and meant when, 
on the eve of His Passion, He officiated in His 
capacity of priest according to the order of Mel- 
chisedech. Father Faber thus describes that first 
consecration: ‘“The awful words have been spoken: 
‘This is My body.’ It is the first time earth has 
heard them. If it were not inanimate, it would have 
rocked to its very foundations, even as the gates of 
hell are vehemently shaken by the Sacrifice of the 
Mass. Our Lord stands, cognizable as Mary’s Son, 


5 Rit. cel., VIU, 5s. 


THE CONSECRATION 197 


and in the dimensions of mature mortal age. On 
His face is a light of love. He stands there, body, 
soul and divinity, holding in His hand, with unutter- 
able thrills of joy, His own very body.” ° 

As soon as he has pronounced the words of con- 
secration, the priest genuflects, for he is now in the 
presence of his Lord and his God. ‘Then he raises 
the Sacred Host for a moment in such wise as to 
enable the faithful to see and adore It. In like man- 
ner he raises the chalice after consecration. 

The consecration of the wine follows immediately 
upon that of the bread, thus completing the essence 
of our Sacrifice. Simili modo, postquam cenatum 
est (In like manner, after He had supped, 1.e., taken 
supper). Our Lord consecrated the bread during the 
course of the Last Supper (caenantibus illis). The 
chalice, however, He consecrated at its close (post- 
quam cenatum est). Accipiens et hunc preclarum 
calicem in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas (Taking 
also this glorious chalice into His holy and venerable 
hands). Holy Church identifies our own chalice with 
the cup which Jesus Christ took into His holy and 
venerable hands. Since the Mass is substantially one 
with the unbloody sacrifice of the High Priest accord- 
ing to the order of Melchisedech, our chalice is verily 
identical with His, and His chalice was assuredly a 
glorious one (preclarum). The words are likewise 
an allusion to Psalm xxii. 5: Calix meus inebrians, 
quam preclarus est (My chalice which inebriateth 
me, how glorious it is) ! 


6 The Blessed Sacrament, IV, iii. 


198 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Item tibt gratias agens, benedixit, deditque dis- 
cipulis suis, dicens: Accipite et bibite ex eo omnes 
(again giving thanks to Thee, He blessed and gave 
to His disciples, saying: Take and drink ye all of 
this). At the words gratias agens, the priest bows 
his head, and, whilst saying benedixit, blesses the 
chalice by tracing the sign of the cross over it. Then, 
bending over the altar and holding the chalice with 
both hands, he pronounces the words of consecration 
attente, continuate et secreto (attentively, without a 
pause and in a whisper).’ By this injunction of the 
rubric priests are warned against habits which are 
all too readily contracted. It is not uncommon to 
hear priests utter these awful words with a jerky 
violence in a manner which is painful to them- 
selves and to the witnesses of their over-anxious 
scrupulosity. 

As soon as he has pronounced the words of conse- 
cration, the priest replaces the chalice upon the altar, 
saying at the same time: Hec quotiescumque faceri- 
tis, in mei memoriam facietis (As often as ye shall 
do these things, ye shall do them in remembrance 
of Me). Only then does he genuflect and raise the 
chalice, with both hands, slowly and reverently, in 
such a way that the assistants may see it for a 
moment.® 

The words @terni testamenti (of the eternal testa- 
ment) are not found in the sacred text, nor are those 
others, mysterium fidei (the mystery of faith). 
Fortescue suggests that the latter clause may have 


7 Rit. cel., VIII, 7. 
8 Rit. cel., VIII, 7. 


THE CONSECRATION 199 


been an exclamation or acclamation, at first uttered 
by someone else, which finally became inserted in the 
very formula of consecration. In some of the 
Eastern Liturgies the people say Amen after each 
consecration.° 

Here we may pause a moment and consider the 
astonishing ease with which one of the most stu- 
pendous of God’s mighty deeds is brought about. 
Only a few fleeting words need be whispered by a 
validly ordained priest, and all at once bread and 
wine become the Flesh and Blood of the King of 
heaven and earth. And not only on some rare or 
special occasions, or in a few privileged places, is 
this wonderful thing accomplished, but a thousand 
times a day, upon countless altars, ‘from the rising 
of the sun even to the going down” (Mal., i. 11) 
and as long as the world shall endure. “When a 
Saint works miracles, first of all he is a Saint, and 
that is to be remembered, for it tells of long years 
of prayer and conflict and modest secrets of corporal 
austerity. So, if long fasting and great learning 
and much toil and vigils of preliminary ceremony 
were necessary before consecration, it would seem an 
easy exercise of power, when we consider the 
stupendous majesty of the work performed. But no! 
Five little words, and it is done. . . . But why all 
this facility? For the same reason as the great mot- 
ley crowd of priests—for us, for our sakes, for our 
convenience.” *° 


9 The Mass, p. 337 
10 Faber, The Bined Sacrament, pp. 77-738. 


200 PRIEST AT, THE ALTAR 


§ 3. The Elevation. 


The elevation of the Eucharistic Elements follows 
immediately upon the consecration. “his ceremonial 
lifting up and solemn showing of the Host and the 
chalice is very impressive, and, perhaps more than 
any other of our ritual observances, excites a sense 
of wonderment in the breast of the outsider whom 
curiosity, real interest, or some other motive makes 
a not infrequent witness of our sacred mysteries. It 
is possible that sometimes even the faithful may at- 
tach excessive importance to the ceremony, and come 
to look upon it as an essential element of the Eucha- 
ristic Sacrifice. No doubt the elevation is a very 
beautiful and most appropriate rite, since it enables 
the whole assembly of worshippers to look upon that 
which is but a thin veil hiding the Lord of glory, 
like the cloud which hid the triumphant Saviour from 
the men of Galilee, who followed Him with their 
eyes as He ascended into the heights of heaven. 
None the less, the elevation of the Host is of no 
great antiquity, and that of the chalice is of even 
later date. 

The practice is not of Roman origin, but began 
North of the Alps at some time in the twelfth cen- 
tury. Many writers and commentators on the liturgy 
have long maintained that the ceremonial lifting up 
and display of the Host was introduced as a protest 
against the heresy of Berengarius, who denied the 
doctrine of transubstantiation and the real presence 
of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. The late Dr. 
Fortescue, summarizing some remarkable articles by. 


THE CONSECRATION 201 


Father Thurston in The Tablet (London) of Oc- 
tober and November, 1907, gives perhaps the truest 
account of the origin and motive of the institution 
of the ceremony. ‘The first beginning of the rite may 
be seen in the rubric which prescribes that the priest 
lift the Host from the altar table in the act of con- 
secration. In the twelfth century it was customary 
to raise it as high as the breast whilst the words of 
consecration were spoken. ‘Then the priest imme- 
diately replaced it upon the altar, and at once went 
on to consecrate the chalice. ‘There was neither 
elevation nor genuflection. Apparently it sometimes 
happened that, while the Host was being consecrated, 
it was held so high that the assistants could see it, 
so much so that bishops became anxious lest the 
people should be led to worship it before consecra- 
tion. For this cause decrees were issued forbidding 
the raising of the Host in such a way that the faith- 
ful could be misled into worshipping the unconse- 
crated bread. 

The first bishop who formally commanded the 
ceremonial elevation of the Host is Eudes de Sully, 
who was Arichbishop of Paris from 1196 to 1208. 
The prelate, by his ordinance, decided a very 1m- 
portant point of Catholic dogma. There was, at 
one time, some division of opinion as to the exact 
moment when the bread was actually changed into 
the Body of Christ. Some theologians contended 
that the change only took place after the chalice had 
likewise been consecrated. It seems strange that 
there should ever have been even the slightest hesita- 
tion in a matter of such importance. The truth on 


202 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


this point of doctrine is easily gathered from the 
account which the Evangelist gives of the institution 
of the Holy Eucharist. At the Last Supper the 
Apostles partook of the consecrated Bread which 
our Lord declared to be His Body some time before 
they drank of the cup which contained His Blood, 
since He only consecrated the wine towards the end 
or at the close of the repast (postquam caenatum 
est). 

The practice of lifting the Host on high in such 
wise that all might see it, spread steadily and rapidly. 
The elevation of the chalice followed more slowly. 
The reason of the difference is easily perceived. At 
the first elevation we can see the consecrated Ele- 
ment, whereas in the second we only see the vessel 
that contains it. This solemn elevation was instituted 
for the express purpose of presenting the Holy 
Eucharist for the adoration of the assistants, so much 
so that in the thirteenth Ordo Romanus (published 
under Gregory X about the year 1275) it is formally 
stated that ‘‘at the elevation of the Body of Christ 
let them prostrate on the ground and reverently wor- 
ship upon their faces, and let them thus remain pros- 
trate until the Pater Noster.’ ‘The fourteenth Ordo 
Romanus emphasizes this point yet more. In this 
document, which belongs to the beginning of the 
fourteenth century, it is prescribed that the priest 
shall ‘‘reverently and carefully elevate on high the 
Body of our Lord so that it may be adored by the 
people.” This prescription became part of the 
rubrics of the Roman Missal, as may be proved by 
comparing our early Missals with the small Ordo 


THE CONSECRATION 203 


Miss@ compiled by the papal Master of Ceremonies, 
John Burchard. That document belongs to the end 
of the fifteenth century, and forms the basis of the 
Ritus celebrandi now found at the beginning of our 
Missals.* The genuflection now made by the priest 
before and after each consecration and elevation did 
not become general and strictly obligatory until the 
publication of the Missal of 1570. ‘To this day the 
Carthusians do not genuflect, but merely bow to the 
Blessed Sacrament. 

In the estimation of the people the elevation, at 
any rate of the Sacred Host, became an all-important 
feature of the Mass, particularly so in England. To 
assist at Mass was spoken of as “seeing God’ or 
‘seeing Jesus.” People imagined they had not heard 
Mass if they had not witnessed the elevation. In 
his attacks on the Mass, John Becon describes how 
at that moment a man would jostle his neighbor, in 
his eagerness to look at the Holy Sacrament, on the 
plea that ‘“‘he could not be blithe until he had seen 
his Lord God that day.”’ Dan Lydgate speaks thus 
in his Vertue of the Masse: 

First every morrow, or Phebus shine bright, 

Let pale Aurora conduct you and dress 

To holy church, of Christ to have a sight, 

For chief preservation against all ghostly sickness. 
Almost immediately upon her accession, Elizabeth 
took the occasion of this remarkable devotion of our 
Catholic forefathers to display her unbelief in what 
was so dear to their hearts. ‘The Queen being 
present at the Bishop of Carlisle’s Mass on Christ- 


11 Cfr, The Month (London, December, 1906). 


204 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


mas morning, while the cantors of her chapel were 
singing the Gloria in excelsis Deo at their lectern, 
sent a message to his lordship within the sanctuary, 
peremptorily forbidding him to elevate the Host. 
But Oglethorpe replied that, as it was the unvarying 
rule of the Catholic Church for all priests to do so, 
he must ask her Majesty’s permission to allow him 
to conform. Upon this, before the Gospel, she rose 
from her faldstool, biting her thin lips in anger, 
stamped vigorously upon the floor, and so hastily 
departed.” 

In order to draw the attention of the people yet 
more forcibly to the lifting up of the consecrated 
Elements, the custom arose in the late Middle Ages 
of ringing a small bell called “the sacring bell.’ Be- 
sides this bell, each church possessed a yet larger 
one, which was rung at the Sanctus, and for that 
reason was popularly called “‘sance bell.” Very often 
also the big bell in the steeple would be rung at the 
elevation, so that those who were engaged in their 
household work or in the labors of the field, might 
thus know the supreme moment of the Mass. Our 
Ritus celebrandi, VIII, 6, merely says that “‘the 
server rings a little bell with his right hand, three 
times at each elevation or continuously, until the 
priest replaces the Host upon the altar; the same is 
done at the elevation of the chalice.” 

There is but little uniformity in this matter, 
various customs obtaining in different countries. In 
some countries people are very fond of the sound 
of a bell, and Mass is often accompanied by a vast 


12 Ff, G. Lee, The Church and Queen Elizabeth, I, 12. 


THE CONSECRATION 205 


amount of bell-ringing, apparently at the discretion 
—or otherwise—of the altar boys. The present 
writer well remembers one morning when he said 
Mass in one of the side chapels of the noble cathe- 
dral which is the glory of Rouen. The boy who 
served him took hold of a handbell from the moment 
he approached the altar and kept ringing it on the 
least provocation; in fact, he only put it down when 
he had to present the cruets or change the book. 
Such abuses should be ruthlessly suppressed. On 
the other hand, if a church possesses a big bell, it 
should always be rung at the Sanctus and Consecra- 
tion, at least of the principal Mass. The sound of 
the Mass bell is welcome to many of our devout 
people whose duty and toil keep them from church, 
and cheers many a sufferer lying on his sick-bed. The 
priest should urge his people to stop work for a few 
moments and lift their hearts on high, when the bell 
warns them that the priest is raising the Body and 
Blood of Jesus Christ towards heaven in order to 
draw down the blessing of our heavenly Father. 

It has long been the custom of our good people 
to bend their heads and shoulders during the eleva- 
tion, or to cover their faces with their hands as an 
aid to and an outward manifestation of their humble 
and loving worship. More recently the practice has 
sprung up of looking at the Host. This seems a 
very commendable custom, seeing that the priest lifts 
up the consecrated Elements for the very purpose 
that the faithful may see them. The practice was 
much encouraged by the act of Pius X, when that 
great Pontiff, of holy memory, granted an indulgence 


206 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


of seven years and seven quarantines to all who, 
whilst looking at the Sacred Host, reécho the cry of 
faith and love of St. Thomas the Apostle: “My 
Lord and my God!’** The more recent practice 
can be made to harmonize with the older custom. 
Let the priest exhort his people first to look at the 
Host and then to bow in lowly adoration. 

Some persons, with more eagerness for gaining 
indulgences than sound liturgical instinct, have asked 
the Holy See whether the priest actually cele- 
brating might say the words Dominus meus et Deus 
meus, and thus gain the indulgence. ‘The answer has 
been in the negative. The mind of Holy Church 
is that there should be no innovations or alterations 
in the Canon. For that very reason Rome has always 
refused to insert the name of St. Joseph in the Con- 
fiteor, or in the prayers of the Canon. The follow- 
ing lines from Dan Lydgate’s Vertue of the 
Masse,** which he recommended to devout people 
to say whilst looking at the Sacred Host, are an 
admirable expression of the sentiments which should 
fill the hearts of priests and people alike at this 
solemn moment: 

Hail, holy Jesu, our health, our ghostly food: 
Hail, blessed Lord, here in form of bread: 
Hail, for mankind offered on the rood 

For our redemption with Thy blood made red, 
Stung to the heart with a spear’s head. 

Now, gracious Jesu, for Thy wounds five, 
Grant of Thy mercy, before I be dead, 


Clean shrift [confession] and housel [viaticum] while 
I am here alone. 


18 Decree of the S. Cong. of Indulg., June 12, 1907. 
14Cfr. J. H. Matthews, The Mass and its Folklore (Catholic 
Truth Society, London), p. 97. 


THE CONSECRATION 207 


The consecrated Elements are lifted on high 
primarily for the spiritual comfort of the people. 
But for the priest, also, the ceremony is full of deep 
significance. The material raising on high of the 
Body and Blood of the Saviour of the world forcibly 
recalls to mind the scene enacted on the heights of 
Calvary, when, suspended between heaven and earth, 
our Lord offered Himself to His heavenly Father: 
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw 
all things to Myself.” ?® From the cross, Christ calls 
down the Father’s mercy and forgiveness, whilst at 
the same time He draws us to Himself, thus raising 
us to an abiding union with Himself. 

In a fine passage in one of his earliest works, 
Msgr. Benson gives a vivid description of the un- 
earthly scenes enacted on the altar at the moment 
of consecration: “Another space and a tingling 
silence; the crowds bow down like the corn before 
the wind. He comes, He comes! On He moves, 
treading under foot the laws He has made, yet borne 
up by them as on the Sea of Galilee; He who inhabits 
eternity at an instant is made present; He who never 
leaves the Father’s side rests on His white linen 
carpet, held yet unconfined; in the midst of the little 
gold things, and embroidery and candle flames and 
lilies, while the fragrance of the herbs rises about 
Him. There rests the gracious King, before this 
bending group . ..; the rest of the pageant dies 
into silence and nothingness outside the radiant circle 
of His Presence. There is His immediate priest- 
herald, who has marked out this halting place for 


15 John, xii. 32. 


208 PRIEST. AT THE ALTAR 


the Prince, bowing before Him, striving by gestures 
to interpret and fulfill the silence that words must 
always leave empty; here behind are the adoring 
human hearts, each looking with closed eyes into the 
face of the Fairest of the children of men, each cry- 
ing silently words of adoration, welcome and utter 
love in? 


16 By What Authority? p. 382. 


CuHapTrer XVII 
The Prayers After the Consecration 


§ 1. Unde et memores. 


WE gather from the Gospel account of the in- 
stitution of the Holy Eucharist, as well as 
from St. Paul’s relation of what he had learned 
from the Lord Himself, that our divine Saviour bade 
the Apostles do in their turn what they had just seen 
Him do: “This do in commemoration of Me.” * For 
this reason all Liturgies contain some formal afirma- 
tion or assurance that we do indeed bear in mind 
what our Lord accomplished on the eve of His 
tassion. Iniithe, Greek liturgy’ this ‘prayer of 
remembrance bears the name of évdéprvyous (remem- 
brance). It is evident that our Eucharistic Sacrifice 
is primarily a memorial of the Passion and Death 
of Jesus Christ: “As often as you shall eat this 
bread and drink the chalice, you shall show the death 
of the Lord, until He come.”’? The Roman Liturgy 
has the equivalent of the Greek dvdyyyos in the first 
prayer which follows the consecration: Unde et 
memores, Domine, nos servi tut, sed et plebs tua 
sancta, ejusdem Christi Filii tut Domini nostri tam 


tT) Cor. xt.e24s 
2II Cor., xi. 26. 


210 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


beate passionis, nec non et ab inferis resurrectionis, 
sed et in celos glorios@ ascensitonis (Wherefore, O 
Lord, we Thy servants, as also Thy holy people, 
calling to mind the blessed passion of the same Christ 
Thy Son, our Lord, and His resurrection from hell 
and glorious ascension into heaven). ‘The first word 
of the prayer (Unde, wherefore) closely connects 
it with our Lord’s injunction: “Do this in memory 
of me.” By reason of this command we are bold 
enough to repeat, day by day, tempore mortalitatis 
nostre (during the time of our mortal life),* what 
He performed in His own person ere He gave His 
life for us. But for such a formal command, who 
would dare to stand at the altar and attempt so 
divine a thing? 

The compiler of the Liber Pontificalis ascribes to 
Pope Alexander I (109-119) the ordering of an 
express mention of the Passion at Mass (Hic pas- 
stonem Domint miscuit in precatione sacerdotum, 
quando miss@ celebrantur). So it came about that 
some writers have attributed the whole prayer Unde 
et memores to this holy Pontiff. It may have been 
so. However, the very nature of the Mass makes 
it a commemoration, a mystical reénactment of the 
Passion, so there could never have been a time when 
the Passion was not remembered in the act of 
sacrifice. 

The priest speaks both for himself and for the 
faithful: ‘‘we Thy servants.” It is a great thing 
to be even a servant or slave of God, for, as St. 
Agatha said to Quintianus, the Governor of Sicily, 


3 Postcommunion of Maundy Thursday. 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION ai1 


“it is more glorious to serve Christ in all lowliness 
than to possess the wealth and honor of kings.’’ * 
We are God’s servants, ministering on behalf of the 
people. The people also belong to God, and as such 
they deserve to be called holy. The Church, by 
reason of her being the Bride of Christ, is necessarily 
“a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or 
any such thing,’”’ but is “holy and without blemish.” ® 
And the Prince of pastors declares that the children 
of the Church are “a chosen generation, a kingly 
priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people.” ° 
We remember with love and gratitude the blessed 
Passion of our Lord (beate passionis). Wow bitter 
that Passion was to Him; how blessed for us! It 
was the source of all grace and the efficient cause 
of everlasting happiness. The epithet “blessed” 
may seem a strange way of describing the consum- 
mation of the career of Him who is spoken of as 
‘‘the man of sorrows and one acquainted with grief.” 
In reality, the only true view of the Passion is to 
look upon it, not as a defeat or failure, but as a 
conquest and triumph. Our Lord on the cross 1s 
not defeated, He triumphs; the cross is a sacrificial 
altar and a kingly throne. For that reason our 
Christian forefathers in the ages of faith have fre- 
quently represented our Lord on the cross as a king 
crowned, not with a crown of thorns, but with a royal 
diadem. The insistence upon the physical side of 
the Passion is comparatively modern, and_har- 


4 Brev. Rom., 5 Febr., Noct. II. 
5. Eph, v.27. 
6] Pet., ii. 9. 


212 PRIEST AT THE’ ALTAR 


monizes with modern refinement of sentiment—not 
to say, modern sentimentality. The early Christian 
writers, assuredly, were not less tender-hearted than 
we are. Their souls were full of sympathy with the 
suffering Redeemer, but they never lost sight of the 
essential triumph of Calvary. In what noble terms 
does not St. Leo the Great speak of the Passion? 
“What is there,” he asks, ‘among all the works of 
God which so wears out the intentness of human 
admiration, that so delights and overcomes the mind 
as the contemplation of the Passion of our Saviour? 
The Lord submitted to that which of a set purpose 
He had Himself chosen. He permitted the hands 
of criminal men to vent their fury upon Him: yet 
these very hands, whilst becoming stained with their 
own crime, ministered to the Redeemer.’ * Our 
Lord’s personal attitude towards the Passion is 
described in His own words: “I have a baptism 
wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am [| 
straitened until it be accomplished?” ® 

Besides the Passion, memory is likewise made of 
its triumphant sequel in the Resurrection and glorious 
Ascension. 

Offerimus preclare Majestati tua, de tuis donis, 
ac datis, hostiam puram, hostiam sanctam, hostiam 
immaculatam: Panem sanctum vite eterne et cali- 
cem salutis perpetue (We offer unto Thy glorious 
Majesty of Thy gifts and grants a pure Host, a holy 
Host, an immaculate Host, the holy Bread of eternal 
life and the chalice of everlasting salvation). Sac- 


TTI Noct., Palm Sunday. 
8 Luke, xii. 50. 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION 213 


rifice and oblation are reciprocal terms. By the very 
act in which the Victim is sacrificed, it is likewise 
offered. But we cannot express in one phrase all 
that 1s suggested to our minds by these concepts of 
sacrifice and oblation, so that what in itself is accom- 
plished in a moment, is apparently spread out 
through a number of prayers and ceremonies. The 
Mass is our Lord’s sacrifice, but also very really that 
of the Church. The Victim upon the altar is indeed 
pure, holy, and spotless, since it is the Flesh and 
Blood of the Lamb of God. Again that which we 
are permitted to offer upon the altar has first been 
given to us by God (Nobis datus, nobis natus). 

tuts donis ac datis (Of Thy gifts and grants), may be 
traced back to I Par., xxix. 14: “All things are Thine: 
and we have given Thee what we have received of 
Thy hand.” We need not be disturbed by the five 
signs of the cross which accompany the concluding 
clauses of the prayer. ‘They are real blessings, called 
forth by the words, and are made, as it were, in 
sympathy with their meaning. We must always bear 
in mind that, essentially, the prayer of consecration 
is one. ‘The climax is reached at the moment of 
consecration—at that moment Christ becomes truly 
present, and rests upon the altar, and the divine Vic- 
tim is mystically slain. The whole Eucharistic prayer 
asks of God to work the tremendous change by which 
bread and wine become the Flesh and Blood of His 
divine Son. The Greek Church formally asks the 
Holy Ghost in a solemn invocation (epiclesis) to 
come down from heaven and operate this change. 
God is above all space and time, whereas they con- 


214 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


stitute the necessary framework of all our thinking 
and doing. So we may rightly persist in asking even 
though we have already been answered, because the 
grace is granted and the sacrifice effected in view of 
the whole prayer. The change wrought at the con- 
secration is instantaneous; Holy Church asks for it 
during the whole of the prayer of the Canon, which 
necessarily takes time. Thus we must understand 
the words hostiam puram, etc., as we understand 
those of the Offertory when we call the unconsecrated 
host immaculatam hostiam (spotless host), and 
again sacrificium tuo sancto nomint preparatum (sac- 
rifice prepared for Thy holy name). In this last 
instance there is a dramatic aniicipation, in the 
former a retrospect, emphasizing the essential one- 
ness of the whole act. We have been heard by God, 
but we still persevere in our request; God has not 
waited until our prayer be complete. However, His 
antecedent goodness, which makes Him, as it were, 
impatient of delay, is no reason why we should not 
faithfully carry out to the full the prayer and rites 
which are our share in this truly admirabile commer- 
cium. We shall readily take this view of a rather 
dificult prayer, if we consider for a moment the 
prayers and supplications which Holy Church puts 
into our mouth during Advent. All through that 
period the Church sighs and prays for the Saviour 
in the words used by the patriarchs and prophets of 
old. Rorate cali desuper et nubes pluant justum 
(Send down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let 
the clouds rain on the just), she cries out, although 
her Lord has been with her those two thousand 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION 215 


years! The devout and learned Dom Guéranger 
says that these prayers of Holy Church, though sub- 
sequent to the wondrous divine event, hastened its 
realization in time. We are now sending up to 
heaven prayers which were answered these many cen- 
turies ago, but they exercised a positive influence 
upon the choice of the moment when God sent His 
Son into the world, and hastened “the fullness of 
time.” 

Panem sanctum vite eterne et calicem salutis per- 
petue (the holy Bread of eternal life and the chalice of 
everlasting salvation) : Jesus Christ is the true bread 
of life (Ego sum panis vita) ,® and in very deed the 
Holy One of God, embodying and showing forth in 
His Humanity the uncreated holiness of God, and 
sanctifying all those who come in contact with His 
Flesh in this ineffable mystery of divine and human 
sanctity. The chalice upon the altar contains that 
Blood which is shed for the remission of the sins 
of many. The effect of the outpouring of the Blood 
of the Lamb of God cannot be merely negative; 
neither is the justification of the sinner a negative 
thing; sins are blotted out, and souls are washed in 
that precious Blood, and made holy precisely because 
they are dyed with the hues of that crimson flood: 
‘Blessed are they that wash their robes in the Blood 
of the Lamb: that they may have a right to the 
tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the 
city 


9 John, vi. 35. 
10 Apoc., xxii. 14. 


216 PRIEST AE THESALTAR 


§ 2. Supra que propitio. 


What has been said of the first prayer, applies 
with equal force to the second, in which we ask that 
God would look down upon this altar, and the gifts 
that are upon it, with a favorable and serene coun- 
tenance (Supra que propitio ac sereno vultu respicere 
digneris). Assuredly God cannot but look with 
favor upon our sacrifice, since it is the Flesh and 
Blood of His beloved Son, in whom He is well 
pleased. Our prayer, then, is that the Father would 
accept this holy Sacrifice as offered by us, who need 
His mercy and kindness. In order to make our sac- 
rifice acceptable, we remind God of those other 
sacrifices which He was pleased to receive, which 
were typical of this perfect oblation: et acepta habere, 
sicutt accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui 
justi Abel, et sacrificium Patriarche nostri Abraha, 
et quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchise- 
dech, sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam 
(and accept them, as Thou wert graciously pleased 
to accept the gifts of Thy just servant Abel, and the 
sacrifice of our Patriarch Abraham, and that which 
Thy high-priest Melchisedech offered to Thee, a holy 
sacrifice, an immaculate host). In these sublime 
phrases our minds are taken back into the earliest 
dawn of human history. “Abel by faith offered to 
God a sacrifice, by which he obtained a testimony 
that he was just.’ ** Abraham is called our father, 
inasmuch as his faith made him the spiritual head 
of the vast family of believers. Pater fidei nostra, 

11 Heb., xi. 4. 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION 217 


Abraham summus (Father of our faith, the most 
distinguished Abraham), is the title Holy Church 
gives to this most venerable personage, who in his 
day was the friend and confidant of God, so that the 
Lord said: “Can I hide from Abraham what I am 
about to do?’ * At the bidding of God he was 
prepared to slay his only son, whom he knew to be 
the heir of the divine promises, “‘accounting that God 
is able to raise up even from the dead.” ** The sac- 
rifice of Abraham, though not carried so far as the 
actual shedding of blood, was accepted by God. It 
is a perfect figure of our sacrifice, wherein the Victim 
is not physically slain, because the risen Christ is now 
beyond the reach of suffering and death. 
Melchisedech is the most mysterious figure in the 
whole of the Old Testament: we know only two 
things about him, namely, that he was a king and a 
priest of the most high God. As such, he is the real 
type or figure of our kingly High Priest. In the 
Bible he is described as “the priest of the most high 
Gods here hevis styled *) Thy high priest.’’ The 
title is bestowed by Holy Church because, in her 
mind, the personality of the King of Salem is merged 
in that of Him who is the one High Priest, whom 
that other did but foreshadow in those far-off ages. 
In the words of the great Leo: “He [Christ] 1t is, 
whose person Melchisedech the high priest (ponti- 
fex) signified, in that he did not offer to God a sac- 
rifice of Jewish victims, but the elements of that 


12 Gen., xvili. 17. 
13 Heb., xi. 19. 
14 Gen., xiv. 18. 


218 PRIEST ‘AT THE ALTAR 


mystery which our Redeemer consecrated in His 
Flesh and Blood.” These and other like sayings of 
the great Pope of the fifth century may have been 
the reason why the prayer itself and its insertion 
in the Canon have been attributed to him. However, 
other Liturgies have similar expressions, and the 
symbolism of Melchisedech is an obvious one. In 
the Liturgy of the Maronites, allusion is made to yet 
other Biblical personages and their offerings: “O 
God, who didst accept the sacrifice of Abel in the 
field, of Noe in the ark, of Abraham on the moun- 
tain-top, of David on the threshing floor, of Ornan 
the Jebusite, of Elias on Mount Carmel, and that 
of the widow’s mite in the treasury, do Thou, O 
Lord God accept these offerings which are presented 
to [hee by my weak and sinful hands.”’ 

The mention of three of the outstanding figures 
of the Old Law serves to show forth the essential 
oneness of the Old and New Testament. The Old 
Law was the reign of shadows; we enjoy the blessed 
reality. But, already in that “ba and distant age, 
divine icin was at work preparing mankind for 
the glorious inheritance which has fallen to our lot. 
Here we may appropriately apply the well-known 
saying of St. Augustine: Novum testamentum in 
vetere latet; vetus in novo patet (The New Testa- 
ment lies concealed in the Old; the Old lies revealed 
in the New).?° Through the Mass we, “upon whom 
have come the ends of the world,” are made heirs 
of all preceding ages. We are at one with all the 
Saints and Patriarchs of old, and yet far more 


15 Jn Exod., \xxiii. 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION 219 


biessed than they, for “‘all these died not having re- 
ceived the promises, but beholding them afar off, and 
saluting them.’ Abel, Abraham, Melchisedech, 
though approved by God by reason of their faith, 
“received not the promise [the realization of the 
promise]; God providing some better thing for us, 
that they should not be perfected without us.” *° 

The concluding words of our prayer (sanctum 
sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam) refer directly to 
the sacrifice of bread and wine offered by Melchise- 
dech. However, inasmuch as the prayer practically 
identifies the King of Salem and our Lord, the words 
apply to the offering upon our altar, which is the 
sacrifice of Christ officiating (in the person of His 
ministers) in His capacity as “priest for ever, accord- 
to the order of Melchisedech.” *” 


§ 3. Supplices te rogamus. 


The third prayer after the consecration is of very 
great beauty, but it is also extremely difficult to ex- 
plain. Perhaps this is the prayer which St. Gregory 
had in mind, when he wrote thus in the third book 
of his Dialogues: “Let us think what manner of 
sacrifice this is which continuously reproduces the 
Passion of the only-begotten Son for the remission 
of our sins. For who among the faithful can enter- 
tain a doubt that, in the very hour of immolation, 
at the call of the priest the heavens are opened, the 
choirs of the Angels are present at this mystery of 


16 Heb., xi. 39, 40. 
17 Ps, cix. 4. 


220 PRIEST. AT THE ALTAR 


Jesus Christ, that which is lowest is mingled with 
what is highest, earth is joined to heaven and the 
visible and invisible world are merged into but one 
whole” (Pensemus quale sit pro nobis hoc sacrifi- 
cium, quod pro absolutione nostra passionem unt- 
geniti Filit semper imitatur. Quis enim fidelium 
habere dubium possit in ipsa immolationis hora, ad 
sacerdotis vocem, celos aperiri, in illo Jesu Christi 
mysterio Angelorum choros adesse, summis ima 
sociari, terrena calestibus jungi, unum quoque ex 
visibilibus atque invisibilibus fieri) 2° 

Supplices te rogamus . . .: “We humbly beseech 
Thee, Almighty God, to command that these things 
be borne, by the hands of Thy holy Angel, to Thine 
altar on high, in the sight of Thy divine Majesty, 
that as many of us as at this altar shall partake of, 
and receive, the most holy Body and Blood of Thy 
Son, may be filled with every heavenly blessing and 
racer. 

Many writers see in this prayer the Roman 
equivalent of the Greek epiclesis (éxikhyows) —that is, 
a petition to the Holy Ghost that He would change 
the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus 
Christ, even as once, by His overshadowing, He 
formed and fashioned this same Sacred Humanity 
out of the most pure substance of the Virgin Mother. 
Duchesne remarks that our prayer has not the 
definiteness of the Greek epiclesis; none the less it 
occupies the same place in the sacred rite. More- 
over, it is an invocation to God to intervene in the 
mystery; but, whereas the Eastern Liturgy speaks 


18 |vili, sub init. 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION 221 


clearly and precisely, the Latin has recourse to sym- 
bolism. It asks that an Angel should carry our 
offering to the high altar of God in heaven. The 
Greek Liturgy prays the Holy Ghost to come down 
upon our offering. Our Supplices asks that what is 
placed upon the altar may be borne up into heaven; 
but in both cases contact is demanded between God 
and our offering, that so it may become the Body 
and Blood of the Son of God. 

We need not be troubled by the position of our 
prayer, for the difficulty is only an apparent one. As 
we have said repeatedly, we must look upon the 
whole Canon as forming but one prayer—the con- 
secration prayer. “God,” says Fortescue, ‘answers 
that one prayer by changing the bread and wine into 
the Body and Blood of our Lord, and, no doubt, He 
does so, according to our ideas of time, before the 
whole prayer has been spoken. Our Baptism service 
is the obvious parallel case. All through it we ask 
God to give the child the graces which, as a matter 
of fact, He gives at once, at the moment when the 
essential matter and form are complete. So the 
ordination rite dramatically separates the elements 
of the priesthood (power of sacrificing, of forgiving 
sins), which presumably are really conferred at one 
moment, when the man becomes a priest. In all such 
cases we say that, at whatever moment of our time 
God gives the sacramental grace, He gives it in an- 
swer to the whole prayer or group of prayers, which 
of course take time to say.”’ *® 

Supplices te rogamus (literally, “as suppliants we 


19 The Mass, p. 353. 


222 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


beseech Thee’’?). In order that he may show his 
humility even outwardly, the rubric prescribes that 
the priest should bend low, with hands joined and 
resting upon the edge of the altar table. Our humble 
supplication is to an Almighty God (omnipotens 
Deus). Jube hec perferri (Command these things to 
be carried)—hec (these things) corresponds to the 
Supra que (Upon which) of the preceding prayer, 
and designates the ineffable gifts that Holy Church 
offers now in the sight of God, namely the spotless 
Flesh and Blood of His own divine Son. 

Per manus sancti Angeli tut (by the hands of Thy 
holy angel). Who is this Angel? Some have 
thought he was our Lord Himself, of whom Holy 
Church sings thus in the Introit of the third Mass 
of Christmas Day: vocabitur nomen ejus, magni con- 
silit Angelus (His name shall be called the Angel 
of great counsel). Others again see in this Angel 
the person of the Holy Ghost, who has been called 
down in the epiclesis. 

A third interpretation sees in the Angel the prince 
of the. heavenly hosts, St. Michael, once the pro- 
tector of the people of Israel and now the guardian 
of God’s Church on earth. However, it seems more 
natural to take the phrase as being a petition to God 
that He would accept our sacrifice through the 
ministry of the Angels in general. This view appears 
to us to be the correct one, and our opinion is based 
on a reading of the prayer which is found in that 
priceless book, De sacramentis, which has long been, 
and still is, attributed to St. Ambrose. There we 
find the original text of our three prayers after the 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION 223 


consecration, which were then merged in one: “After 
the consecration the priest says: Ergo memores 
. et petimus et precamur ut hanc oblationem sus- 
cipias in sublimi altari tuo per manus angelorum 
tuorum” (Wherefore, mindful, we beseech and pray 
that Thou wilt accept this oblation on Thine altar 
on high through the hands of Thy angels) .?° 
From the earliest times Holy Church has believed 
in the presence of the Angels during the celebration 
of the divine Liturgy. Already in the second cen- 
tury Tertullian asserts that it is irreverent to sit down 
during divine service: sub conspectu Dei vivi, angelo 
adhuc orationis adstante (in the sight of the living 
God, while the angel of prayer is still present) ,”* 
a phrase that suggests a belief in the ministry of an 
Angel specially detailed to assist at the prayers of 
the Church. St. Thomas” also says that in our 
prayer the priest asks that orationes sacerdotis et 
populi angelus assistens divinis mysteriis Deo re- 
presentet, secundum illud: “Ascendit fumus incen- 
sorum de oblationibus sanctorum de manu angeli’”’ 
—‘the angel assisting at the divine mysteries will 
present to God the prayers of the priest and people, 
in accordance with the saying: “The smoke of the 
incense of the prayers of the saints ascended from 
the hand of the angel.’”’** St. John Chrysostom, 
in his book on the priesthood, speaks with glowing 
enthusiasm on this same subject: “Then [during the 
sacrifice of the Mass] do the Angels assist the priest, 


20 De sacram., IV, 6. 
21 De orat., xvi. 
22111, Q. Ixxxili, a. 4. 
23 Apoc., vill. 4. 


224 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


and all the orders of the heavenly powers cry out 
with one voice, and the whole place round the altar, 
where the Lord is laid, is filled with their presence. 
. . . Lhave heard of a certain wonderful old man, 
one who was accustomed to receive revelations, that 
he was favored with the following vision: He beheld 
all of a sudden a multitude of Angels, arrayed in 
shining robes, standing round the altar, with their 
heads bowed, as one might see a band of soldiers 
surrounding their King.”’ ** 

In sublime altare tuum, in conspectu divine ma- 
jestatis tue (to Thy altar on high, in the sight of 
Thy divine Majesty). There can be no question of 
a physical taking up to heaven of the consecrated 
Elements, nor is there a material altar set up before 
the Majesty of God on high. Holy Church makes 
use of terms which are manifestly symbolical and 
must be symbolically interpreted. The prayer al- 
ludes to the scene described in the eighth chapter of 
the Apocalypse: “And another Angel came and 
stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and 
there was given to him much incense, that he should 
offer of the prayers of all the Saints upon the golden 
altar, which is before the throne of God. And the 
smoke of the incense of the prayers of the Saints 
ascended up before God from the hand of the 
Angel.” > In the Apocalypse, ix. 13, there is yet 
another mention of “‘the golden altar, which is before 
the eyes of God.” : 

The purpose of the prayer is, therefore, that the 


24 De sacerdotio, VI, 4. 
25 Apoc., vill. 3, 4. 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION § 225 


Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, as they are our 
sacrifice, may be united to and offered with that 
eternal oblation of Himself by which Jesus Christ 
ratifes for ever the actual oblation of Himself which 
took place but once upon the altar of the cross. The 
golden altar in heaven is but one more symbolism 
by which the inspired writer describes the office of 
Mediator which our merciful Saviour discharges in 
our behalf. “By faith we draw nigh to that altar, 
which is likewise a priest and a sacrifice (Per fidem 
venttur ad aram que et sacerdos et sacrificium 
est). For all these things are found in Christ: 
for He is the heavenly altar of the Father . . . dost 
thou imagine there is any other altar at which Christ 
ofhciates, than His body, by which and on which the 
prayers and the devotion of the faithful are offered 
Hpito.God ithe Bather?; 7° 

This symbolism of the heavenly altar is very 
definitely adopted by Holy Church in the rite of 
ordination of a subdeacon. It is true, the words 
addressed by the Bishop to the candidate do not date 
back beyond the Middle Ages, but they do not for 
that reason lose their interest and importance: “The 
altar of Holy Church is Christ Himself, according 
as St. John bears testimony, when he relates in his 
Apocalypse how he saw a golden altar, standing 
before the throne, on which and by which the offer- 
ings of the faithful are consecrated to God. The 
cloths and coverings of this altar are the members 
of Christ, that is, those who believe in God, who 
surrounded the Lord like precious vestures.”’ 


26 Hugh of Langres, eleventh century. 


226 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


In the mind of the Church, our earthly altar is a 
symbol of the heavenly altar. But “the golden altar, 
that is set up before God,” is our Lord Himself. 
So it becomes abundantly clear that the Supplices is 
a prayer to God, asking Him to accept our sacrifice 
with the same benevolence with which He accepts 
the eternal sacrifice of Christ, who, because “He 
continueth for ever, hath an everlasting priesthood, 
whereby He is able also to save for ever them that 
come to God by Him: always living to make inter- 
cession for us.” *" 

Ut quotquot, ex hac altaris participatione, sacro- 
sanctum Filit tut Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, 
omnt benedictione calesti et gratia repleamur (that as 
many of us as, by this participation at the altar, shall 
receive the most sacred Body and Blood of Thy Son, 
may be filled with every heavenly blessing and 
grace). Here we ask for the full supernatural 
benefit of our sacrifice, of which we are made par- 
takers when we eat the Flesh and drink the Blood 
of the Son of God. 

At the words ex hac altaris (at the altar), the 
priest kisses the altar, as an outward mark of 
reverence for the holy table on which lies, mystically 
slain, the Lamb of God ‘which was slain from the 
beginning of the world.” ** This kiss is in very truth 
an act of homage and adoration to Christ Himself, 
the altar being the symbol of the Lord of glory. 
“The altar is of stone,’ says a Greek writer, ‘‘be- 
cause it represents Christ, who is called a rock and 


27 Heb.,’ vil. 24, 25. 
28 Apoc., xili. 8. 


PRAYERS AFTER THE CONSECRATION 227 


a cornerstone, and because the rock from which 
water flowed for the refreshment of the people of 
Israel was an image of Him.” 

At the words Corpus et Sanguinem (Body and 
Blood), the priest makes the sign of the cross over 
the Host and the chalice, and over himself whilst 
saying omni benedictione (every blessing). These 
signs of the cross, or blessings, are the natural and 
spontaneous tokens of the favors which we hope to 
receive at the moment of partaking of the immortal 
Flesh and Blood of Jesus Christ, who died for us 
upon the cross in order that we might live for ever. 

The prayer is addressed directly to God the 
Father, but since mention has been made of His 
only Son, the conclusion is Per eumdem Christum 
Dominum nostrum (Through the same Christ our 
Lord). All our graces originate in Christ, ‘of whose 
fulness we have all received, grace upon grace.” *° 
Our Eucharistic Sacrifice is acceptable to God, be- 
cause it is offered, through the hands of Angels, upon 
the golden altar of heaven—that is, our Lord inter- 
venes in the Church’s sacrifice in such wise that, 
whenever and wherever the holy Mass is offered, 
He once more exhibits before the Father that act 
of submission to the divine will which caused Him 
to immolate Himself upon Calvary. 

What a lofty idea of the greatness of our sacrifice 
we may derive from a devout consideration of this 
beautiful prayer! It takes us out of ourselves, and 
lifts our minds and hearts into the heights of heaven. 
It points out how this identification with and inter- 


29 John, 1. 16. 


228 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


vention in the Mass, is the chief function of Christ’s 
ofice as Mediator—an ofhce which He never re- 
nounces: “There is one God, and one mediator of 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” °° May we 
always say the Supplices with that interior fervor 
and humility which is betokened by our exterior at- 
titude! As we go on celebrating day by day and 
year by year, the danger is that familiarity may lead 
to thoughtlessness. We should make unto ourselves 
certain rallying points, as it were, where we collect 
our wandering thoughts and renew our faith. Surely 
the Supplices is one such phase of the Mass. It will 
cost but a small effort to recollect ourselves whilst 
reciting these wonderful words, and it may come to 
pass that not unfrequently we shall experience that 
holy fear and awe which is a necessary disposition 
in those who draw nigh unto the altar of the Lord: 
Pavete ad sanctuarium meum (Reverence My sanc- 
tuary).*? 


30 J Tim., il. §. 
31 Lev., xxvi. 2. 


CHAPTER XVIII 
The Memento of the Dead 


"THE prayer for the dead comes as a natural 
sequel to the Supplices, in which we have asked 
that all we who partake of the Victim offered upon 
the altar, may be filled with heavenly graces and 
blessings. Now we beseech our Lord to be likewise 
mindful of those children of Holy Church who have 
entered into that mysterious land where souls pay 
the. debt they owe to divine justice. They cannot 
help themselves, but look to us for succor. The 
Holy Sacrifice has eficacy enough to make good 
whatever obligations they may have incurred, since 
it is an oblation of infinite value, rendering to God 
both the homage due to His Majesty and satisfaction 
for the sins by which they have offended Him. 
Prayer for the dead has always been practised and 
recommended by Holy Church. We have the as- 
surance of an inspired writer that “it is a holy and 
wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they 
may be loosed from their sins.” * From the earliest 
centuries prayers for the dead were offered during 
the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The Memento of the dead 
is obviously connected with that of the living. 
Originally, the one followed immediately upon the 
other. It was the Oratio super diptycha (Prayer 
1J]I Macch., xii. 46. 
229 


230 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


over the Diptychs, or Lists of the Living and the 
Deceased), which was recited after the names both 
of the living and the dead had been read from the 
lists prepared beforehand. According to St. John 
Chrysostom, the practice is of apostolic institution: 
‘‘Not in vain did the Apostles decree that during the 
awful mysteries a commemoration should be made of 
the departed.”’* Everyone knows the touching re- 
quest of St. Monica: “Lay,” she said, “this body 
anywhere; let not the care for that in any way dis- 
quiet you: this only I request, that you would re- 
member me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be.” * 
And again, when speaking of the burial of his holy 
mother, the African Doctor says: “‘And behold, the 
corpse was carried to the burial; we went, and re- 
turned, without tears. For neither in those prayers 
which we poured forth unto Thee, when the Sac- 
rifice of our ransom was offered for her, when now 
the corpse was by the grave’s side, as the manner 
there’ is;-did- Ti weeps) 

In his book De cura pro mortuis gerenda, St. 
Augustine bears testimony to the universal practice 
of the Church of making a remembrance of the 
departed during the prayers which the priest recites 
at the altar. And again, in his thirty-second sermon, 
he says: ‘“The whole Church observes the tradition 
of the Fathers, according to which prayers are 
offered for those who have died in the communion 
of the Body and Blood of Christ, at the moment 


2 Homil. lxix, 
3 St. Augustine, Confess., IX, 11. 
4 Confess., IX, 12. 


THE MEMENTO OF THE DEAD 231 


when their names are commemorated during the 
sacrifice, and the sacrifice itself is offered in their 
behalf.” 

The text of our prayer is impressive in the highest 
degree. It is redolent of the spirit of the early 
Christians, whose idea of death and belief in im- 
mortality is given so beautiful an expression in the 
inscriptions found on the walls of the Roman Cata- 
combs. ‘To the Christian death is but a sleep. “The 
body is laid aside for a while: its resting-place is a 
dormitory (cemeterium), where it slumbers during 
the brief night of time. On the morning of the 
world’s last day all these sleepers shall suddenly be 
roused by the mighty sound of the Angel’s trumpet: 
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall rise again incorruptible.” ° 

Memento etiam, Domine, famulorum famularum- 
que tuarum qui nos precesserunt cum signo fidei, et 
dormiunt in somno pacis (Be mindful, O Lord, of 
Thy servants and handmaids who are gone before 
us with the sign of faith and rest in the sleep of 
peace). 

The words cum signo fidei (with the sign of faith) 
restrict the priest’s prayer to those who have de- 
parted this life in communion with the Catholic 
Church. However, the charity of the universal 
Mother of souls cannot but extend itself to all those 
who rest in Christ, even though, in life, they may 
not have been in visible communion with her. When 
the priest stands at the altar, he is the representative 


5 TtCor xv 82. 


232 PRIEST. AT THE ALTAR 


of the Church, speaking and acting in her name. 
But, for all that, he does not cease to be a private 
person, and as such he may include in his prayer 
even those for whom the Church does not pray 
officially and publicly. We have no means of know- 
ing who they are who need our suffrages, hence, ac- 
cording to the custom which has obtained from the 
beginning, we pray for all the departed. “Our suf- 
frages,” says St. Augustine, “are not beneficial to all 
those for whom they are offered, but only to such 
as have taken care, during their lifetime, that they 
should be so. But, since we have no means of know- 
ing who these may be, it is necessary that suffrages 
should be made for all who are born again, so that 
none be neglected who could or should be made par- 
takers of these benefits. For it is better that suf- 
frages should be superfluous to those whom they can 
neither help nor hurt, than that they should be want- 
ing to those to whom they may be profitable.’ And 
again: “‘Supplications for the spirits of the dead 
must not be omitted. The Church has indeed under- 
taken to offer these for all who died whilst sharing 
in our Christian and Catholic fellowship. But, be- 
cause their names are not known, she includes them 
in a general remembrance. ‘Thus, even though some 
of the departed should be lacking parents or chil- 
dren, relatives or friends, who ought to make these 
suffrages, they are yet offered by the charity of the 
common Mother of all. 

Officially, therefore, the priest may pray or offer 


€St. Augustine, De cura pro mortuis gerenda; cfr. II Noct., 
Office of the Dead, Noy. 2. 


THE MEMENTO OF THE DEAD 233 


the holy Sacrifice only for those who departed this 
life in full membership of the Church. As a private 
person, however, he may mention the names of any 
of his friends, whether they were in visible com- 
munion with the Church or not. It is, as a matter 
of fact, our bounden duty not to exclude anyone from 
our personal, private supplications, though it would 
not be lawful to mention, at the altar, the name of 
one who has been under a sentence of excommunica- 
tion and has died unrepentant or unabsolved. 

We do not know and cannot penetrate into the 
secret dealings of God with the souls of men. Hence, 
both prudence and charity demand that we should 
pray in general for all the departed. Holy Church 
makes us do this in the concluding paragraph of the 
Memento of the dead: ‘‘To these, O Lord, and to 
all that rest in Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, a 
place of refreshment, light and peace” (in Christo 
quiescentibus, locum refrigerii, lucis et pacis). There 
is a fragrance of the Scriptures and Christian anti- 
quity in the words. Death is only a sleep, for did 
not the Author of life bid the parents of the young 
maiden dry their tears, saying: “Weep not; the 
maiden is not dead, but sleepeth?’* Death is not 
extinction; the body is laid aside for a while, waiting 
for the day when ‘“‘those that sleep in the dust of 
the earth shall awake: some unto life everlasting, 
and others unto reproach, to see it always.” ° 

The place of refreshment, light and peace is, 
properly speaking, Heaven alone. Yet even Purga- 


7 Luke, vili. 52. 
8 Daniel, xii. 2. 


234 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


tory may be thus described, inasmuch as the time of 
strife is now over. The Holy Souls are no longer 
in danger of eternal loss. They are in light, because 
they know with absolute certainty that they are the 
friends of God. Moreover, by reason of their per- 
fect conformity to His will, they await, with ineffable 
longing yet with a holy calm, the hour when they 
shall at long last enter into the joy of their Lord. 
Our prayer is inspired by what we might well call 
the ninth beatitude, as thus proclaimed in the book 
of St. John’s Revelation: ‘And I heard a voice from 
heaven, saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead, 
who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith 
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors: for 
their works follow them.” ® That they may rest! 
What music there is in those words for all who labor 
and toil and grow weary in the struggle! Let us not 
grow faint, for soon we shall be at rest. ‘Eternal 
rest is the rest of the Eternal; as eternal life is the 
life of the Eternal. It is the repose of the divine 
activity; the sleep of infinite energizing; the stillness 
of the All-mover. ... As eternal life, so also 
eternal rest enters into the Saints, even here on earth, 
with every new access of sanctifying grace. In the 
midst of all their struggles and labors for their own 
souls and the souls of others, their heart sleeps like 
a tranquil lake. While others rise before dawn after 
a brief slumber, and hurry fretfully through joyless 
days to restless nights, He giveth His beloved 
sleepig 


9 Apoc., xiv. 13. 
10’Tyrell, Nova et Vetera, p. 360. 


THE MEMENTO OF THE DEAD 235 


The adorable Sacrifice is offered up for the living 
and the dead. It is by itself the most efficacious 
intercession on behalf of the Holy Souls, since it is 
not so much we who plead and pray, as Christ who 
mystically sacrifices Himself and so presents to God 
atonement and reparation far exceeding that which 
may be owing to divine justice. The expiatory efficacy 
of the Mass is absolutely infinite. In our daily Mass 
power is given to us to empty Purgatory and to open 
the gates of the heavenly mansions. 

In the Life of St. Teresa, written by herself, we 
are told again and again how she beheld the souls 
of her daughters and those of others rising from the 
ground and going up to heaven during the time the 
holy Sacrifice was being offered: “I was once in one 
of the colleges of the Society . . . the night before 
one of the brothers of that house had died in it; 
and I, as well as I could, was commending his soul 
to God, and hearing the Mass which another Father 
of that Society was saying for him, when I became 
recollected at once, and saw him go up to heaven in 
great glory, and our Lord with him.” ** 

St. Gregory declares that the oblation of the 
Sacred Victim is wont to help the souls of the de- 
parted, so that they themselves not unfrequently ask 
for it. To prove this, he relates the experience of 
a certain priest who served a church in a place called 
Tauriana, where there were hot springs. One day, 
as this priest entered the baths for the sake of his 
health, he found there a man unknown to him, ready 
to minister to his wants. The stranger took off the 


11 Life, xxxviil, 39. 


236 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


priest’s shoes, received his clothes, and, as he came 
out of the vapor bath, handed him towels, and, in 
a word, assisted him in every way. After he had 
been the object of these attentions for a considerable 
time, the priest bethought himself how he could best 
reward the man. So he presented him with two 
loaves which had been offered at the altar. But the 
man sadly replied: “Why dost thou offer me these 
things, Father? This bread is sacred, I may not 
eat it. I, whom thou seest here, was at one time 
the owner of this establishment, and for my sins I 
was sent hither after my death. However, if thou 
art minded to help me, offer this bread to Almighty 
God in expiation of my sins. Thou shalt know that 
thou hast been heard, when, on coming to take the 
waters, thou shalt no longer find me here.”’ Where- 
upon he vanished, so that it became manifest that he 
was no living man, but a spirit. The priest prayed 
with tears for a whole week and daily offered the 
Holy Sacrifice for that soul. When he next returned 
to the baths, he no longer found the man who had 
waited on him. This fact shows how beneficial to 
the souls of the departed is the immolation of the 
Sacred Victim, since the dead themselves demand it 
from the living, and indicate by what signs they may 
know that their souls have been set free.” 

The Memento is addressed to God the Father, 
but concludes with an express mention of the Son, 
‘in whom we have boldness and access with con- 


fidence by the faith of Him.” * Whilst saying Per 


12 Cfr. Dialog., IV, 4. 
13 Eph.,, iii. 12. 


THE MEMENTO OF THE DEAD 237 


cumdem etc., the priest folds his hands and makes 
a moderate inclination of the head. It is difficult 
to assign a reason for this inclination. Perhaps the 
best explanation is to be found in an association of 
ideas, for we have been praying for the departed: 
their death reminds us of our Lord’s own death upon 
the cross when, “bowing His head, He gave up the 
ghost” (inclinato capite, tradidit spiritum) .* 


14 John, xix. 30. 


CHAPTER XIX 
Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus 


i the Memento of the living, the priest has dis- 
charged his obligation of praying for the Church 
militant in general and for those who have asked 
him to offer the Holy Sacrifice, or who assist at it. 
In the Memento of the departed, he has implored 
God’s compassion on behalf of those who are de- 
tained in Purgatory, the prison-house of eternal jus- 
tice, whence there is no escape until full payment has 
been made, even to the last farthing. Now he 
offers supplication to God on his own behalf and on 
behalf of the ministers of the altar. The Nobis 
quoque (And to us) is thus a natural sequel to the 
prayers for the departed. ‘The first three words are 
said aloud, in order to draw the attention of the 
sacred ministers. 

The first condition of efficacious prayer is that it 
be humble. Humility is the acknowledgment of 
what we are in the sight of God; in other words, 
humility is truth. God is the God of truth; hence, 
his love of humility and hatred of pride. “God 
resisteth the proud, but to the humble He giveth His 
grace.’ * Already in the Old Law we are told that 


1 Matt., v. 26. 
2 James, iv. 6. 
238 


NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS 239 


“the prayer of him that humbleth himself shall pierce 
the clouds . . . and the Lord will not be slack.” ® 
Then do we walk in truth when we acknowledge 
ourselves to be sinners: “We are all sinners, even 
the child whose life upon earth is but one day,” says 
the gloss on Job.* On the other hand, no sooner do 
we acknowledge our guilt than God is ready to wipe 
away the stains of our souls: “If we confess our 
sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, 
and to cleanse us from all iniquity.’*® For that 
reason Holy Church bids us imitate the humble pub- 
lican, who, standing afar off, would not so much as 
lift up his eyes towards heaven, but struck his breast, 
saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” * So 
we are bidden by the rubric to strike our breast whilst 
saying: Nobis quoque peccatoribus. At the same 
time we raise the voice somewhat (elata aliquantu- 
lum voce), just enough to be heard by those who 
stand or kneel round the altar, on whose behalf the 
priest asks for the intercession of the Saints. We 
are sinners; yet we are also the servants of God and 
the dispensers of His mysteries, and as such we have 
a claim upon the liberality of His mercy. In fact, 
we do not trust in ourselves, or in our merits, or 
even in the singular dignity vouchsafed to us, which 
compels men to “account of us as the ministers of 
Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God.” * 
All our hopes are based solely upon the unshakable 


3 Eccl., xxxv. 21, 22. 
4xiv. 4. 

5] John, 1. 9. 

6 Luke, xviii. 13. 

PE Cor. ivet. 


240 PRIEST. AT THE ALTAR 


foundation of divine goodness; de multitudine 
miserationum tuarum sperantibus (hoping in the mul- 
titude of Thy mercies), is obviously inspired by the 
well-known psalm verse: Et secundum multitudinem 
miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam (And, 
according to the multitude of Thy mercies, blot out 
my iniquity). Holy Church for ever keeps remind- 
ing her children of the riches of divine compassion. 
This thought is most admirably developed in the 
moving prayer which we recite in the Mass of the 
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost: ‘Almighty, eternal 
God, the plenty of whose compassion exceeds both 
our merits and our desires, pour out Thy mercy 
upon us; that so Thou mayest forgive that which fills 
our conscience with fear, and mayest even grant 
what we dare not ask for.”’ 

Partem aliquam et societatem donare digneris, 
cum tuis sanctis Apostolis et Martyribus (vouchsafe 
to grant some part and fellowship with Thy holy 
apostles and martyrs). We ask for some share in 
the fellowship of Apostles and Martyrs. It is a 
demand reminiscent of what we read in the Epistle 
to the Colossians, wherein St. Paul bids us give 
thanks to God the Father ‘“‘who hath made us worthy 
to be partakers of the lot of the Saints in light” 
(partem sortis sanctorum in lumine). 

Fellowship with the Saints is one of the chief joys 
of the abode of bliss. Companionship with the 
Angels and Saints is necessary to perfect happiness. 
Heaven is described to us in Holy Scripture in terms 
of a life shared with many: “You are come to mount 


8 Coloss., i. 12. 


NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS 241 


Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly 
Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands 
of angels . . . and to the spirits of the just made 
Bcitects aan eternal lite,” (sarstot thomas, cons 
sists in the sweet companionship of all the Blessed, 
and this companionship will be most pleasing, for 
each of the elect will have everything in common 
with all the others . . . hence the joy and happiness 
of each will be great in proportion to the joy of 
ioe? 

After praying for the blessing of fellowship with 
all the holy Apostles and Martyrs in general, we now 
ask for the favor of being admitted into the society 
of some Saints in particular. Fifteen names are 
mentioned—viz., those of eight men and _ seven 
women Saints, all of them witnesses to Christ, for 
whom they shed their blood. This list of Saints is 
supplementary to that found in the Communicantes. 
Saints who were not mentioned before the Consecra- 
tion, are now honored by having their names uttered 
in the hearing of their Lord who hes upon the altar, 
the Lamb which “though sacrificed, remains yet 
whole and alive.”’** First comes St. John the Bap- 
tist. Some writers have thought St. John the 
Evangelist was meant. But on March 27, 1824, 
the Sacred Congregation of Rites declared that St. 
John the Baptist was meant, and, though this Decree 
was rescinded in 1898, we must maintain that the 
Forerunner is here to be honored, since the list in 


®Heb., xii. 22, 23. 
10 $t. Thomas, In symbol., xxxix. 
11 $t. Andrew, II Noct. 


242 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


the Nobis quoque is supplementary to that of the 
Communicantes and does not repeat names there 
mentioned, not even that of Our Lady. St. Stephen 
is the first Martyr, one of the seven deacons appointed 
by the Apostles, ‘“‘a man full of faith and the Holy 
Ghost.” ** Mathias took the place in the apostolic 
college left vacant by the traitor Judas. Barnabas 
was one of the seventy-two disciples, ‘‘a good man, 
and ‘full ‘of the Holy: Ghost:and of: faith.” oaon 
Ignatius is said to have been the child whom our 
Lord one day placed in the midst of His Apostles, 
setting him before them as a model of humility and 
simplicity. Later on, he became Bishop of Antioch 
and died in the Roman Amphitheatre under Trajan, 
in 107. Alexander was Pope in the first years of 
the second century. Marcellinus was a priest, and 
Peter an exorcist; both were martyred at Rome 
under Diocletian. Felicitas and Perpetua are famous 
martyrs of Carthage in the year 202. Agatha died 
for the faith at Catania, in Sicily, under Decius in 
251. Lucy was likewise a Sicilian, one of the last 
victims of the persecution of Diocletian; she died at 
Syracuse about the year 304. Agnes is one of the 
greatest glories of Rome, of whom the Liturgy says 
that ‘in the thirteenth year of her age she lost death 
and found life.’ ** St. Cecilia sprang from a most 
illustrious family, in her tenderest years she conse- 
crated her virginity to God, and to the fragrance of 
her purity she added the glory of martyrdom 


12 Acts, vi. 5. 
13 Acts, xi. 24. 
14 Resp., I Noct. 


NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS 243 


(towards the end of the second century). Anastasia, 
a Roman widow, died a martyr’s death on the day 
on which we celebrate the birthday of the King of 
Martyrs; this was during the persecution of Diocle- 
tian, in 304. 

These are some of those who “are come out of 
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and 
have made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. 
Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and 
they serve Him day and night in His temple . 
they shall no more hunger nor thirst, neither shall 
the sun fall on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb 

. shall lead them to the fountains of life. . . .”* 
In a striking description of the Mass during a time 
of persecution, Msgr. Benson thus speaks of these 
glorious names: “Again the hands opened and the 
stately flood of petition poured on, as through open 
gates, to the boundless sea that awaited it, where 
the very heart of God was to absorb it in Itself. 
The great names began to flit past, like palaces on 
a river-brink, their bases washed by the pouring 
Liturgy—vast pleasure-houses alight with God, whilst 
near at hand now gleamed the line of the infinite 
Oceania: 

With these and all the Saints we beg to have com- 
munion and fellowship. What exquisite humility 
and trust there is in the concluding words of our 
prayer! Intra quorum nos consortium, non estimator 
meriti, sed venie, quesumus, largitor admitte (Into 
whose company we beseech Thee to admit us, not 


15 Apoc., vil. 14 sqq. 
_ 16 The King’s Achievement, p. 314. 


244 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


considering our merit, but freely granting us par- 
don). We have here but another version of the 
petition of the Te Deum: Atterna fac cum sanctis 
iuis in gloria numerarit (Grant that they may be 
numbered among Thy saints in everlasting glory). 
For eternal bliss, in the words of Holy Scripture, 
is the companionship of the elect; hence, on the Last 
Day, the reprobate shall exclaim with dismay: “We 
fools esteemed their life [the Saints’ ] madness, and 
their end without honor.» Behold how they are 
numbered among the children of God, and their lot 
is among the Saints.”’*" So great a destiny is in- 
finitely beyond our unaided efforts. No doubt, God 
rewards our good works, and we may merit the bliss 
of heaven; yet this very possibility of meriting 1s 
an effect of God’s gratuitous goodness, for “‘the 
goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared: 
not by the works of justice, which we have done, but 
according to His mercy, He saved us.” *® 

The priest concludes his supplication to the 
Heavenly Father with an express mention of His 
beloved Son (Per Christum Dominum nostrum). 
There is no Amen, but the priest goes on praying: 
‘By whom, O Lord, Thou dost always create, sanc- 
tify, quicken, bless and give us all these good things.” 
The words, hec omnia bona (all these good things), 
cannot originally have referred to the consecrated 
Elements upon the altar, for they are not bread and 
wine any longer. The most natural explanation of 


17 Wis., Vv. 4, 5- 
18 Tit., iil, 4, 5. 


NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS 245 


the prayer is that of Duchesne, who says that 
formerly, at this moment, all kinds of fruits were 
blessed. To this very day, on Maundy Thursday, 
the oils are consecrated at this moment of the Mass. 
According to Duchesne, there can be no doubt that 
the formula, Per quem hec omnia, was originally 
preceded by some prayer for the fruits of the earth. 
When the blessing of fruits disappeared from the 
Canon, the prayer remained, and is now “accom- 
modated” to the Eucharistic Victim. The three 
blessings over the consecrated Elements are at- 
tracted, so to speak, by the words sanctificas, vivifi- 
cas, benedicis (sanctify, quicken and bless). 

_ The priest now uncovers the chalice, genuflects, 
rises, and, taking the Sacred Host in his right hand, 
holds it over the chalice and traces three crosses with 
it; then he makes two crosses between the chalice 
and himself. Finally, he raises slightly (parum, says 
the rubric) both the chalice and the Host, whilst 
saying omnis honor et gloria (all honor and glory). 
He once more places the Host on the corporal, 
covers the chalice, and genuflects. “The words which 
accompany this ceremony form a famous doxology: 
Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso est tibt Deo Patri 
omnipotenti, in unitate Spiritus sancti, omnis honor 
et gloria (Through Him, and with Him, and in Him, 
is to Thee, God the Father Almighty, in the unity 
of the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory). All this 
is said silently. Then, raising his voice, the priest 
says Per omnia secula seculorum (For ever and 
ever). All honor and glory belongs to God, world 
without end. The assistants answer 4men, and their 


246 PRIBS TVA GE iA VAR 


acclamation of approval and firm faith marks the 
conclusion of the Canon. 

We might wonder why five crosses are traced with 
the Sacred Host. The reason is to be found in the 
fact that the priest has taken It into his hands for 
the “Little Elevation,” during which he pronounces 
the words omnis honor et gloria. Now, since the 
words that precede suggest or attract a blessing, it 
is natural to make it with the Sacred Host. In like 
manner, and for the same reason, the priest makes 
the sign of the cross with the paten, which he takes 
up whilst saying the prayer Libera nos, quesumus, 
Domine (Deliver us, we beseech Thee, O Lord). 

There could be no nobler conclusion to the essen- 
tial part of the Mass, the Canon, than the sublime 
doxology which accompanies the “Little Elevation.” 
‘The Mass is by its very nature a sacrifice of praise. 
It renders infinite glory to God, since it is the con- 
tinuance of the perfect homage which Jesus Christ 
rendered to His Father during His life, and above 
all by His death. May we always associate ourselves 
interiorly with the action we perform exteriorly, and 
render to the Blessed Trinity the homage due to its 
Majesty “through Him, and with Him and in Hin, 
for ever and ever. Amen’! 


CHAPTER XX 
From the Pater Noster to the Fractio Panis 


§ 1. Sacrifice and Sacrament. 


Feta most sacred phase of our sacrifice is ended, 
the “little Elevation” very appropriately mark- 
ing its close. However, the victim must not merely 
be immolated; those who offer the sacrifice are bound 
to partake of its flesh. Holy Communion is the 
natural termination of the Mass and its consumma- 
tion. When our divine Lord, the true High Priest 
of the New Law, instituted the sacrifice of the New 
Dispensation with Himself acting as priest accord- 
ing to the order of Melchisedech, He immediately 
added a solemn command to the words whereby He 
had wrought the tremendous change which takes 
place in the consecration: ‘Do this in memory of 
Me.” If the assistants are not compelled to com- 
municate, at least the celebrant is. But in all the 
prayers of the Mass Holy Church supposes that the 
faithful shall partake of the Body and Blood of 
Christ, and never allows an alteration to be made 
in their wording. St. Paul, writing to the Corin- 
thians, speaks of the participation of the assistants 
in the Eucharistic Sacrifice: he evidently supposes 
that what is consecrated upon the altar is consumed 
by the faithful: “The chalice of benediction, which 
247 


248° PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of 
Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not 
the partaking of the Body of the Lord?” ? 

The Angelic Doctor teaches that, “although the 
use of a sacrament does not belong to the essence, 
it is nevertheless the complement of the sacrament” 
(quamvis Sacramenti usus non sit de essentia sacra- 
menti, est tamen ad complementum esse ipsius) ; that 
is, the Sacrament would fail of its chief purpose, 
unless those in whose behalf it has been instituted, 
make use of it in Communion. ‘The perfection of 
the Sacrament is in its actual use (in quantum per- 
tingit ad hoc, ad quod institutum est); it has been 
instituted in order that it may be used.’ 


§ 2. The Pater Noster. 


Holy Church opens the last part of the Holy 
Sacrifice with the solemn recitation or singing of the 
Lord’s Prayer. This practice is as old as the Church 
herself, for there can be no doubt that it goes back 
to apostolic days. According to St. Jerome, Christ 
Himself commanded the Apostles to recite this 
prayer during the sacred rites of the Sacrifice of the 
New Law: [Christus] docuit discipulos suos ut 
quotidie in corporis illius sacrificio credentes audeant 
loqui: Pater noster, etc. (Christ taught His disciples 
that daily, in that sacrifice of His body, the believers 
may presume to speak thus: Pater noster).* 


DT Gor. ix. i6: 
2St. Thomas, IV Dist., dist. XIII, q. 2. 
3 Advers, Pelag., Il, 15. 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS 249 


St. Jerome’s expression, audeant loqui (may pre- 
sume to say), is noteworthy, for we preface the 
Pater noster with the words, audemus dicere (we 
presume to say). It is scarcely to be believed that, 
when the Apostles met for the “breaking of bread”’ 
or the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, they did not 
accompany the solemn function with prayer. And 
what prayer of their own invention would they have 
dared to prefer to that whichy at their own request, 
the Master had taught them with His own divine 
lips? So we find the Lord’s Prayer in all Liturgies, 
both in the East and the West. In fact the Pater 
noster is simply the prayer—the “legitimate and 
ordinary prayer” (legitima et ordinaria oratio)— 
and, therefore, the obligatory supplication which 
must needs accompany the Mass. St. Augustine 
bears witness to the use of the Lord’s Prayer in his 
time: “In church, at God’s altar, this prayer of the 
Lord is daily recited and the faithful hear it” (Jn 
ecclesia, ad altare Dei, quotidie dicitur ista dominica 
oratio, et audiunt illam fideles) .* 

There is, therefore, no uncertainty about the re- 
citation of the Lord’s Prayer; the only difficulty is 
in tracing the place it originally occupied in our 
Latin Liturgy. The difficulty arises from a very ob- 
scure passage of a letter of St. Gregory the Great 
to John of Syracuse. “We say the Lord’s Prayer 
immediately after the Canon (mown post precem), 
because it was the custom of the Apostles to con- 
secrate the offering of the sacrifice (oblationis hos- 
tiam) by this prayer alone (ad ipsam solummodo 


4Sermo Iviti, 12. 


250 PRIESU AT eA bak 


orationem), and it seemed very unseemly to me that 
we should recite over the oblation a prayer composed 
by some scholar (scholasticus), and that we should 
not say the very tradition which our Redeemer com- 
posed over His body and blood (ipsam traditionem 
quam Redemptor noster composutt super ejus corpus 
et sanguinem non diceremus )’’—that is, should not 
keep to that which the Redeemer Himself established 
and originated. 

There are several difficulties in this text. What 
appears fairly certain is that Gregory ordered the 
Pater noster to be said over the Body and Blood 
of Christ; we may, therefore, infer that prior to his 
time it was recited before the Consecration. He 
contrasts the Lord’s Prayer and a prayer composed 
by some scholar or learned man, and rightly asserts 
that it is not meet that a prayer of human origin 
should take the place of that which sprang from the 
Heart of the Son of God. John the Deacon tells 
us that St. Gregory prescribed the Lord’s Prayer 
to be said over the Host at the close of the Canon. 
When the holy Pontiff says that the Apostles used 
to consecrate by this prayer alone, he cannot, of 
course, mean what some Protestants have suggested, 
namely, that they never used the words which Christ 
used in the Upper Room. It appears reasonable to 
explain the text by saying that the Pontiff did away 
with some prayer which followed immediately upon 
the Canon, and substituted the Lord’s Prayer in its 
place. That there were such prayers we know, since 
we find one in the Missal of Stowe, which reads thus: 
“‘We believe, O Lord, we believe that we have been 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS 251 


redeemed by this breaking of Thy body and the out- 
pouring of Thy blood (Credimus, Domine, credimus 
in hac confractione corporis et effusione sanguinis nos 
esse redemptos).”” 

In the Liturgies of East and West the Lord’s 
Prayer is preceded by a short introduction, or preface. 
In the Roman Liturgy this preface is itself preceded 
by an exhortation to the people to pray: Oremus. 
The introduction never varies. We find traces of it 
already in St. Cyprian’s treatise on the Lord’s 
Prayer: “Among the rest of His salutary admoni- 
tions and divine precepts, by which He provides for 
the wellbeing of His people, He (Christ) also gave 
them a standard of prayer, He Himself teaching us 
what we should pray for [inter cetera salutaria sua 
montta et precepta divina, quibus populo suo con- 
sulit ad salutem, etiam orandi ipse formam dedit 
(Christus), ipse quid precaremur, monuit et in- 
struit|.”° 

Whilst he recites the introductory preface, the 
priest stands with his hands joined, but, as soon as 
he begins the first petition of the Pater, he extends 
them crosswise, in the attitude of the orantes (pray- 
ing figures) which we see depicted on the walls of 
the Roman Catacombs. Though the prayer is di- 
rectly addressed to God the Father, the rubric bids 
us look at the Sacred Host (stans oculis ad Sacra- 
mentum intentis),® as if to remind ourselves that, 
if we dare at all to address ourselves to God’s Ma- 
jesty, it is because we have been thus taught and 


5 De orat. dom. 
© Rit. cel., x. 


252 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


bidden by Him who is now before our eyes upon the 
altar. ‘The Pater noster should be said with great 
earnestness and deliberation. If we ponder its 
various petitions, even superficially, we cannot fail 
to be struck by their singular beauty and dignity. 
This should of itself prevent any unseemly haste in 
their recitation. . 

The Lord’s Prayer has ever been the favorite 
prayer of Holy Church. The early Fathers and 
Doctors and the Saints of later centuries have left 
us commentaries upon this divine masterpiece, of 
which Tertullian says that the terseness of its word- 
ing is matched by its depth of meaning (Quantum 
substringitur verbis, tantum diffunditur sensibus)." 
It seems right to make a few comments upon the 
seven petitions of the divinely dictated prayer, but 
it is best to do so, not in one’s own words, but in 
the weighty ones of a great Father of the Church. 
One of the most admirable treatises upon prayer 
that have come down to us from the early centuries 
of Christianity is a letter of St. Augustine to a noble 
lady of the name of Proba. This lady had but re- 
cently become a widow, and found herself at the 
head of a large household. She was still young and 
her wealth was immense, but, realizing the vanity 
of all things earthly, she felt but one desire, namely, 
to serve the Lord with all her heart. When Alaric 
plundered Rome, she narrowly escaped from the 
violence of his Goths. Fearing their return, she sold 
her possessions and went to live at Carthage with a 
number of maidens and young widows of her ac- 


7 De orat., i. 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS 253 


quaintance. She consulted the saintly Bishop of 
Hippo about prayer—how she ought to pray, and 
what should be the object of her supplication. 
Augustine’s answer is a long and detailed exposition 
of the necessity and advantages of prayer. In 
Chatper XI of the treatise he gives a brief analysis 
and explanation of the Lord’s Prayer, clearly show- 
ing that, to his mind, it was the perfect prayer, ex- 
pressive of all our needs, and all the more powerful 
in that it is not so much ours as Christ’s, who taught 
it to His disciples. “Lo us,’ says the holy Doctor, 
“words are necessary, that by them we may be 
assisted in considering and observing what we ask, 
not as means by which we expect that God is to be 
either informed or moved to compliance.’’ When, 
therefore, we say: ‘Hallowed be Thy name,” we 
admonish ourselves to desire that His name, which 
is always holy, may be among men also esteemed 
holy, that is to say, not despised; this is an advan- 
tage, not to God, but to men. When we say: “Thy 
kingdom come,” which shall certainly come whether 
we wish it or not, we do by these words stir up our 
own desires for that kingdom, that it may come to 
us, and that we may be found worthy to reign in it. 
When we say: “Thy will be done on earth as it is 
in heaven,” we pray for ourselves, that He would 
give us the grace of obedience, that His will may be 
done by us in the same way as it is done in heavenly 
places by His Angels. When we say: “Give us this 
day our daily bread,” the words “this day’”’ signify 
“for the present time,” in which we ask either for 
that competency of temporal blessing which I have 


254 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


spoken of before (“‘bread”’ being used to designate 
the whole of those blessings, because of its consti- 
tuting so important a part of them), or for the Sac- 
rament of believers, which is in this present time 
necessary, but necessary in order to obtain the 
felicity not of the present time, but of eternity. 
When we say: ‘‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive 
our debtors,’ we remind ourselves of what we should 
ask and what we should do in order that we may 
be worthy to receive what we ask. When we say: 
“Lead us not into temptation,’’ we admonish our- 
selves to seek that we may not, through being de- 
prived of God’s help, be either ensnared to consent 
or compelled to yield to temptation. When we say: 
“Deliver us from evil,’ we admonish ourselves to 
consider that we are not as yet enjoying that good 
estate in which we shall experience no evil. The 
last petition, according to the holy Doctor, is so com- 
prehensive that a Christian, in whatsoever affliction 
he be placed, “may begin with this petition, go on 
with it, and with it conclude his prayers.” 

The Lord’s Prayer is the truly ‘legitimate 
prayer,’ the model of every prayer; for, whatever 
form of words we may use, “if we pray rightly and 
becomingly, we never say but what is found expressed 
in this prayer of the Lord” (nihil aliud dicimus quam 
quod in ista dominica oratione positum est, st recte 
et congruenter oramus) # 

The assistants join in the last petition by saying: 
Sed libera nos a malo (But deliver us from evil), 


SEp. cxxxit, 11, trans. by J. G. Cunningham, edition of Rev. 
M. Dods. 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS $255 


the priest himself adding Amen in silence. In the 
Eastern Liturgies, and the Gallican also, the people 
recite the whole of the Pater Noster; in the Mozara- 
bic the priest alone says it, the people answering 
Amen to each clause. 

There is an interesting prescription in the Rule 
of St. Benedict which shows that already in the fifth 
century the Lord’s Prayer was recited by the one 
who presided, the assistants only saying the conclud- 
ing petition. The great monastic liturgist orders 
that Lauds and Vespers must never be terminated 
without the petitions of the Pater being said in order: 
Ultimo, per ordinem, Oratio Dominica, omnibus 
audientibus, dicatur a Priore (Lastly, let the peti- 
tions of the Lord’s Prayer be said in order by the 
Superior, all listening). At the other Canonical 
Hours, “‘let only the last part of the same Prayer 
be said, so that all may answer: But deliver us from 
evil” (ultima pars ejus orationis dicatur, ut ab om- 
nibus respondeatur: Sed libera nos a malo) .° 


§ 3. The Libera Nos. 


The last petition of the Lord’s Prayer is one for 
deliverance from evil, or from the evil one (a 
maligno). It is the assistant’s share in the solemn 
supplication and is immediately followed by a lengthy 
prayer, silently recited by the priest alone and tech- 
nically called embolism (i.e., a paraphrase, or devel- 
opment). In most Liturgies we meet with some 
form of development of the last clause of the Pater, | 


9 Regula S. Benedicti, XIII. 


256 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


though in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom the 
priest recites only the well-known clause: “For thine 
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, now, 
and for ever, and from all ages to all ages.’ ‘The 
text of the Roman embolism is probably as old as 
that of the Canon itself. We already find it almost 
word for word in the Gregorian and Gelasian Sac- 
ramentaries. 

Libera nos quesumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis 
prateritis, presentibus et futuris (Deliver us, we be- 
seech Thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present and 
to come). ‘The prayer is most comprehensive and 
makes no distinction between what we call physical 
and moral evils. The former are the inevitable con- 
sequence and punishment of the latter; hence we are 
fully justified when we pray to be delivered from 
them. When Holy Church prays to be delivered 
from past evils, she has not only in mind the sins by 
which some of her children have offended God, but 
likewise the consequences and the punishment of 
these transgressions; for, even though sin is blotted 
out by repentance, the temporal punishment due to it 
is not thereby wholly condoned. FE:ven the just are 
subject to much sorrow and tribulation whilst they 
dwell in this place of banishment, complete de- 
liverance from pain being reserved for a future 
state: “Every creature groaneth and travaileth in 
pain, even till now. And not only it, but ourselves 
also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we 
ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the 
adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS 257 


body.” 7° And, when we look ahead into the uncer- 
tain future, our hearts may justifiably quail at the 
thought of what awaits us. If we cannot hope to 
escape the common lot of man, we trust and pray 
that God will not deal with us according to our 
deserts, but rather according to His wonted mercy. 

Et intercedente beata et gloriosa semper Virgine 
Dei Genitrice Maria, cum beatis A postolis tuis Petro 
et Paulo, atque Andrea, et omnibus Sanctis (and by 
the intercession of the blessed and glorious Virgin 
Mary, etc.). Our prayer will receive additional 
efiicacy if offered through the blessed and glorious 
Mother of God and in union with the constant sup- 
plication of the twin princes of the Church, Sts. Peter 
and Paul. The name of St. Andrew, the brother of 
St. Peter, appears to have been added by St. Gregory 
the Great, who had a special devotion to this 
Apostle, in whose honor he dedicated the monastery 
into which he converted his own house on the Ceelian 
Hill. In the Middle Ages it was customary to add 
the names of other Saints, particularly those of the 
patrons of the church. We now include all the Saints 
in one common remembrance (et omnibus Sanctis). 

Da propitius pacem in diebus nostris: ut ope 
misericordie tue adjuti, et a peccato simus semper 
liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi (Mercifully 
grant peace in our days, that by the assistance of 
Thy mercy we may be always free from sin and 
secure from all disturbance). 

Even the most casual student of the Ginnie 
prayers must be struck by the frequency of her peti- 


10 Rom., vill. 22, 23. 


258 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


tions for peace. Obviously this demand is not con- 
fined to that supernatural peace of which the Apostle 
speaks: “The peace of God, which surpasseth all 
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ 
Jesus.” 7" The Church of God cannot grow and 
develop, at least not normally, unless she enjoys a 
certain amount of external, social and political tran- 
quillity. There is nothing morbid in the Church’s at- 
titude towards evil and suffering: she knows how to 
accept and endure hardships of every kind, but she 
does not desire them for their own sake; rather does 
she pray for deliverance from them. Again and 
again her Collects ask for freedom from all evils of 
soul and body. She knows full well, from an ex- 
perience of many centuries, that her lot must needs 
be that of the Apostle, “combats without, fears 
within”’;?? but even as God, “‘who comforteth the 
humble,”” comforted Paul by the coming of Titus, 
so may she lawfully pray to be strengthened from 
on high, not only where souls are concerned, but 
likewise in the purely natural order. On this point 
the prayer to Our Lady, which we say so often in 
the course of the year, is most illuminating: Con- 
cede nos famulos tuos . . . perpetua mentis et cor- 
poris sanitate gaudere ... a presenti liberart tris- 
titia et eterna perfrui letitia (Grant us, thy servants, 
to rejoice in continual health of mind and body .. - 
and to be freed from present sorrow and enjoy ever- 
lasting happiness). There is something eminently 
wholesome in the attitude of the Church towards suf- 


11 Philip., iv. 7. 
12 JI Cor., |vil. §, 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS 259 


fering. Just as a healthy organism resists and easily 
repels any deleterious influence from without, and 
readily overcomes every poisonous germ that may 
have penetrated within, so are we to look upon-evil 
as an evil, from which good does indeed often result, 
not however as from a source, but inasmuch as it 
becomes an occasion of spiritual advantage to us. 
Some modern exponents of spirituality seem to take 
a kind of morbid, pessimistic delight in pain, and 
would have us believe that there can be no sanctity 
if the would-be Saint be a man or woman of normal 
physical health. Do what we may, we shall not 
escape pain (multe tribulationes justorum), but the 
Lord will deliver us from all these, wholly in the 
world to come, and in part even in this life, if we 
pray as the Holy Ghost makes us pray in the inspired 
Liturgy of the Church. 

As soon as the priest begins the Libera nos, he 
wipes the paten with the purificator, takes it in his 
right hand, holds it erect upon the altar until he 
comes to the words da propitius pacem in diebus 
nostris (mercifully grant peace in our days), when 
he makes the sign of the cross upon himself with it. 
Then he slips the paten under the Sacred Host, un- 
covers the chalice, and genuflects. 


§ 4. The Fractio Panis (Breaking of the Host). 


The breaking of the Sacred Host is one of the 
oldest elements of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and for 
that reason we find it in all Liturgies. After our 


Lord had Himself celebrated the first Mass, He 


260 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


bade the Apostles do in their turn what they had 
just witnessed. The Gospels insist upon the break- 
ing of the bread, previous to its distribution among 
the disciples: Accepit panem, et benedixit ac fregit, 
deditque discipulis suis (Took bread, and blessed, 
and broke, and gave to His disciples) ;** Accepto 
pane gratias egit, et fregit (Taking bread, He gave 
thanks, and broke).“ ‘To break bread” speedily 
became a Eucharistic expression, as may be gathered 
from the Acts of the Apostles. In the pages of that 
most fascinating book we are given a glimpse of the 
life of the Early Church at Jerusalem: the believers 
frequented the temple, we are told, frangentes circa 
domos panem (breaking bread from house to 
house).** Abbot Cabrol justly remarks that though 
the word fregit (broke) occurs in the Sacred Text, 
it is not mentioned in connection with corpus (Body), 
but only with panis (bread). The word, however, 
passed very soon into the formula of consecration: 
Hoc est corpus meum quod pro multis frangitur 
(This is My Body which is broken for many) ;*® 
hoc est corpus meum quod pro vobis frangitur et 
datur (This is My Body which is broken and given 
for you);*" hoc est corpus meum quod pro vobis 
confringitur (This is My Body which is shattered 
for you) .78 

These expressions are evidently based upon the 


13 Matt., xxvi. 26. 
14 Dake! Xxli. 19. 

15 Acts, ii. 46. 

16 Const. pits VIIl. 
17 Liturg. Sti. Jacobi. 
18 Testam. Dnt. 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS 261 


well-known text of St. Paul: “The bread, which we 
break, is it not the partaking of the Body of the 
Lord?” * “In the Eucharist,” says St. John Chrysos- 
tom, ‘‘we see the Lord’s body broken, but not upon 
the cross; on the contrary, it is written: ‘You shall 
not break a bone of Him’; but what He did not 
endure upon the cross, that He suffers for thee in 
the sacrifice, that He may fill all.” ?® Clement of 
Alexandria tells us that, when the Eucharistic bread 
has been broken according to custom, every one of 
the assistants is allowed to take a part.” 

The breaking of the consecrated Bread was for 
the purpose, primarily, of distribution among those 
present. St. Augustine, in a letter to Paulinus, thus 
explains the fraction of the Eucharistic bread (in 
celebratione Sacramentorum .. . illud quod est in 
Domini mensa . . . cum benedicitur et sanctificatur, 
et ad distribuendum comminuitur ) .”” 

In the Latin Rite the Host is divided into three 
parts, and during the fraction the conclusion of the 
Libera nos is recited. The priest first breaks the 
Host in two, whilst saying: Per eumdem Dominum 
nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum (Through 
the same Jesus Christ our Lord, Thy Son). Having 
placed the half which he holds in his right hand upon 
the paten, he breaks off a small fragment from the 
half which he holds in his left hand, whilst he says: 
qui tecum vivit et regnat, in unitate Spiritus sanctt, 
Deus (who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the 


19] Cor. x. 16. 

20 Hom. xxiv. in I Cor., x. 
21 Strom., I. 

22 FD, cxlix, n. 16. 


262 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


unity of the Holy Ghost, one God). When he has 
reunited the two halves upon the paten, he holds 
the small fragment over the chalice saying: Per 
omnia secula seculorum (For ever and ever). When 
the server has answered Amen, the priest makes 
three crosses with the particle over the chalice, say- 
ing: Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum (May the 
peace of the Lord be always with you). The server 
answers: Lt cum spiritu tuo. Then the priest drops 
the particle into the chalice, whilst he prays that 
‘this mingling mixture and consecration of the Body 
and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ may be unto 
us that receive them effectual of eternal life.” 

This ceremonial mixture of the two consecrated 
Elements is a very old custom. It may have 
originated in the practice of mixing bread and wine 
at meals, as our Lord did at the Last Supper: “And 
when He had dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas 
Iscariot, the son of Simon.”’ 7° 

The words which accompany the mixture have 
been variously interpreted. The two consecrated 
Elements are united in order to represent the resur- 
rection of our Lord, just as His passion and death 
are shown forth in their separate consecration. But 
it is not easy to see how this mingling of the Elements 
becomes a new consecration. It is evident that the 
wine is not consecrated, or changed into the Blood 
of our Lord at that moment, and yet Holy Church 
never uses words at random. We may, therefore, 
see in this reunion of the two Elements a new and 
special consecration of the species under which 


23 John, xiii. 26. 


FROM PATER NOSTER TO FRACTIO PANIS 263 
Christ’s Flesh and Blood is upon the altar. This is 


the opinion of Gihr and others. However, the word 
can also be taken to signify a final preparation of 
the sacred Elements for use in the Holy Communion, 
which is about to take place. This explanation seems 
the more natural when we remember that during 
many centuries the laity received Holy Communion 
under both kinds. 

Both fraction and mixture are symbolical acts of 
the highest significance. The former, at first only 
a reproduction of the action of our Lord at the Last 
Supper, soon came to signify His sacrifice upon the 
cross, as well as to express the faith of the Church 
in the reality of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. But, if the 
separate consecration and the breaking of the Host 
show forth the death of the Lord, the mingling of 
the Elements declares that He who is mystically 
slain is now living in the glory of God the Father. 
_ The fraction of the Sacred Host should be accom- 
plished with the utmost reverence. True, we do no 
injury to the Lord of glory, but merely divide the 
sensible element which hides Him from our gaze. 
None the less we shall do well to ponder what Father 
Faber says at the end of his great book on the 
Blessed Sacrament. After relating how Blessed 
Angela of Foligno, when assisting at the Mass of an 
unworthy priest, at the moment of the fraction of 
the Host, heard a low, sweet voice complaining: 
‘‘Alas! how they break Me and make the blood flow 
from My limbs!” the saintly Oratorian cries out: 
“Ah! my Fathers and Masters, my Brothers in this 
intolerable grace! do we not, each of us, know in his 


264 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


own secret soul at least one priest, who, if he had 
his due, could never break the Host without having 
his own heart broken also by the lamentable sweet- 
ness of that plaintive cry?” ™ 


24 Blessed Sacrament, IV, 6. 


CHAPTER XXI 


From the Agnus Dei to the Domine non sum 
dignus 


§ 1. The Agnus Dei. 
THe Holy Eucharist is the outward symbol and 


the most efhcacious cause of the wonderful 
union that obtains between our Lord and those who 
belong to Him, and, again, of the unity and har- 
mony that should reign among those who claim to 
be, and are in very deed, members of the body of 
Jesus Christ. Hence it is most appropriate that we 
should pray that peace may ever reign amongst the 
children of the Church. This is done by the priest 
when he makes a triple cross over the chalice, with 
a fragment of the Host, whilst saying: Pax Domini 
sit semper vobiscum (The peace of the Lord be al- 
ways with you). He also prays for peace and tran- 
quillity in the last of the three invocations addressed 
to Jesus Christ under the title of Lamb of God. 
The symbolism of the lamb, as applied to our 
Lord, is based upon some of the noblest passages 
to be found in our Sacred Books. In the famous 
prophecy in which he describes the Passion of the 
Messias with a vividness of detail that might have 
been expected from an eyewitness, Isaias speaks thus: 
265 


266 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


“Fie was offered because it was His own will, and 
He opened not His mouth: He shall be led as a sheep 
to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before 
His shearer, and He shall not open His mouth.” * 
Elsewhere the Lamb is described as a king and law- 
giver: “Send forth, O Lord, the lamb, the ruler of 
the),earth, 2... \to) the mount ot’ the) daughteruor 
Sion.” ? In Jeremias our Saviour’s voice is heard: 
“I was as a meek lamb that is carried to be a vic- 
tims) 

In the Apocalypse the image recurs again and 
again: “I beheld, and lo! a Lamb stood upon mount 
Sion, and with Him an hundred forty-four thousand 

. these follow the Lamb . . . the first fruits to 
God and to the Lamb.’ * But the most impressive 
picture of the Lamb and of the worship that is 
rendered to it in the Liturgy of heaven, is found in 
the fifth chapter, for there the seer describes the 
Lamb as slain. One might almost say that the 
Apostle describes the Eucharistic Sacrifice with its 
accompanying chants and prayers: “And I saw; and 
behold in the midst of the throne and of the four 
living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a 
Lamb standing, as it were slain.’ We are even 
allowed to hear an echo of the hymns of the great 
crowd of heavenly worshippers: “The Lamb that 
was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, 
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
and benediction. . . . To Him that sitteth on the 

11s, lili. 7. 
2Is., xvi. I. 


s Jers xi, 19. 
*Apoc., *Xiv.0t,) 4- 


AGNUS DEI TO DOMINE NON SUM 267 


throne, and to the Lamb, benediction, and honor, 
and glory, and power, for ever and ever.’ ® 

St. Peter assures the early Christians that they 
have been bought “‘with the precious Blood of Christ, 
as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.”’® Even be- 
fore the Prince of the Apostles, St. John the Baptist 
had pointed out the Saviour from among the crowd 
that surged around Him: “Behold the Lamb of God, 
behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world.” * 
The old and widely-spread custom of representing 
our Lord under the form of a lamb arose from this 
exclamation of the Forerunner. The Council in 
Trullo (692) arrogated to itself the right of pro- 
hibiting such representations, but without success, 
and Rome strenuously opposed these pretensions. 

The thrice repeated invocation to the Lamb of 
God dates back to the end of the seventh century. 
The Liber Pontificalis relates that Sergius I (687- 
701) ordained that, during the fraction of the bread, 
clergy and people should sing together: Agnus Dei 
qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. At first the 
invocation was only said once, then twice, that is, 
once by the clergy and once by the people. In the 
twelfth century we find that it is said three times, 
the conclusion of the third invocation being our dona 
nobis pacem (grant us peace). However, the 
Basilica of St. John Lateran has retained to this day 
the primitive custom of a triple miserere nobis. In 
Masses for the dead, miserere nobis is replaced by 


5 Apoc., v. 
©T Pe6,) 1, 19. 
7 John, i. 29. 


268 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


dona eis requiem (grant them rest), and at the 
third invocation we add sempiternam (everlasting). 
This custom also was general as far back as the 
twelfth century. 

The habit of “‘farcing”’ (or interpolating) liturgical 
pieces, which was so common in the later centuries 
of the Middle Ages, did not spare the Agnus Dei. 
Cardinal Bona quotes the most widely known form: 


Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, crimina tollis, 
aspera mollis, Agnus honoris, miserere nobts. 

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, vulnera_ sanas, 
ardua planas, Agnus amoris, miserere nobis. 

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, sordida mundas, 
cuncta fecundos, Agnus odoris, dona nobis pacem. 


Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, 
takest away its crimes, and dost soften its harsh- 
nesses, O Lamb of honor, have mercy on us. 

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, 
dost heal its wounds, and level its steep places, 
O Lamb of love, have mercy on us. 

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, 
dost cleanse its sordidness, and fructify all things, 
O Lamb of fragrance, grant us peace. 


§ 2. The Prayers of Preparation for Holy Com- 
munion. 


In the early centuries of the Church, Holy Com- 
munion followed immediately after the fraction of 
the Host. The three prayers which now precede it 
were at first private devotions only, by which the 
celebrant prepared his soul for the final act of the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice. The first prayer is clearly only 
a development or paraphrase of the last petition of 
the Agnus Det. It dates as far back as the eleventh 


AGNUS DEI TO DOMINE NON SUM 269 


century at least, and is mentioned by the author of 
Micrologus. By the fourteenth century it had a 
place in the Missal of the Roman Church, since we 
read in the Ordo Rom. XIV that the Pope, after the 
Pax, “reverently, with joined hands, says these 
prayers: Domine Jesu Christe, Filii Dei vivi, etc. 
(Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God), and the 
other prayers to be said before he receives the Host, 
as they are in the book.’ As the three prayers are 
addressed to the Second Person of the Blessed 
Trinity, the rubric prescribes that the priest should 
fix his eyes upon the Host, placing his folded hands 
on the edge of the altar and making a moderate 
inclination. The first prayer asks for peace and 
union among the children of the Church. Its pur- 
pose, therefore, is not purely personal; on the con- 
trary, the priest prays that our Lord would not 
regard his sins, but the faith and confidence of His 
Church. 

The second prayer is obviously a prayer of 
preparation for the celebrant’s own Communion as 
distinct from that of the assistants. It is addressed 
to Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who, with 
the codperation of the Holy Ghost, quickened the 
world by dying for it. We pray to be delivered from 
all our sins, and from the manifold evils, moral and 
physical, which are the direct consequence of our 
transgressions. How simple and childlike is the con- 
cluding request: fac me tuis semper inherere man- 
datis, eta te numquam separari permittas (make me 
always adhere to Thy commandments and never suf- 
fer me to be separated from Thee)! If we pray 


270 PRIEST AT THE: ALTAR 


thus morning after morning, and correspond with 
God’s preserving grace, what holy, stainless lives 
ours will be! We shall live in sanctity and justice 
in His presence all our days (Jn sanctitate et jus- 
tilia coram ipso, omnibus diebus nostris). The 
present writer has heard it related, but is not able 
to verify the story, that St. Philip Neri used to say 
to our Lord, as he héld the Sacred Host in his hands: 
‘Keep me, O Lord, today, else I shall betray Thee.”’ 
May we all reécho from our hearts the ardent prayer 
of this wonderful priest! _ 

The codperation of the Holy Ghost in the work 
of the redemption consists in this, that He inspired 
the willing obedience by which the Son of God car- 
ried out the will of His heavenly Father: Christus 
passus est ex charitate et obedientia, quia et precepta 
charitatis ex obedientia implevit, et obediens fuit ex 
dilectione ad Patrem precipientem (Christ suffered 
from a motive of charity and from obedience, for 
obedience made Him fulfill the law of charity, and 
He was obedient because of His love for the Father 
who had laid this command on Him).* This is made 
even clearer in the holy Doctor's commentary on 
Hebrews, ix. 3: Causa quare Christus sanguinem 
suum fudit, fuit Spiritus Sanctus, cujus motu et in- 
stinctu, scilicet charitate Dei et proximi, hoc fecit 
(The motive which urged Christ to shed His blood, 
was the Holy Ghost, whose motion and prompting, 
that is, love of God and the neighbor, made Him 
act in this way). 


8 St. Thomas, Summa Theol., III, Q. xlvii, a. 2, ad 3. 


AGNUS DEI TO DOMINE NON SUM _ 271 


The Holy Eucharist is the most powerful means 
of union with Christ: “He that eateth My Flesh 
and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me and I in 
him.” ® Would that we were less forgetful so that 
we might ever realize our superabundant wealth, 
when we cling to Christ and possess Him! Jpsum 
enim habes, quem totus mundus tibi auferre non 
potest. Ego sum, cui te totum dare debes, ita ut 
jam ultra non in te, sed in me absque omni sollicitu- 
dine vivas (For thou possessest Him whom the 
whole world cannot take from thee. I am He to 
whom thou must wholly surrender thyself, so that 
henceforth thou mayest live free from all solicitude, 
not in thyself, but in Me).*° 

The opening sentence of the third prayer is in- 
spired by the warning of the Apostle: “Let a man 
prove himself . . . for he that eateth and drinketh 
unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, 
not discerning the Body of the Lord.” ** We are 
utterly unworthy to feast upon the spotless Flesh of 
the Lamb of God; if we dare partake of it, it is 
solely because we are given an express command to 
do so. To eat of this immortal Flesh of the Son of 
God and to drink of the priceless cup, is the condition 
on which alone we can have everlasting life. More 
than that: Holy Communion is not alone a source 
of supernatural life, but it is even an efficacious 
means of refreshment and healing for our body. The 
Corinthians were punished with physical ills because 


® John, vi. 
10 Tmitation tf Christ, IV, 12. 
217 Cor., xi, 28, 29. 


272 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


of the abuses that had crept into their celebration 
of the Lord’s Supper: “Therefore are there many 
infirm and weak among you, and many sleep.” * A 
worthy Communion, therefore, will not fail to con- 
tribute to the wellbeing of mind and body. “The 
Sacraments,” says St. Thomas, “produce the salutary 
effect which they signify . . . and though the body 
is not the immediate subject of grace, nevertheless 
grace reaches it as derived from the soul, whilst in 
this life ‘we present our members as instruments of 
justice unto God,’ as St. Paul says,?* and in the world 
to come the body is destined to take a share in the 
incorruption and glory of the soul.” * 


§ 3. Domine non sum dignus. 


On the conclusion of the third prayer of prepara- 
tion, the priest genuflects and expresses the eager 
longing of his soul for its divinely appointed food, 
in the words of the psalmist: Panem celestem ac- 
cipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo (I will take the 
Bread of heaven, and call upon the name of the 
Lord). Accipere here signifies to take, as we take 
food (viz., to eat). Hence, St. Thomas says that, 
when we read that our Lord took bread, He took 
it in the same way in which He commanded the 
Apostles to take it (accipite et comedite, bibite) ; 
that is, He also partook of it (intelligendum est 
quod ipse accipiens comederit et biberit). Hence, 

12T Cor., xi. 30. 

12 Rom. vi. 13. 


14Summa Theol., III, Q. Ixxix, a. 1, ad 3. 
15 Ps, cxv. 4. 


AGNUS DEI TO DOMINE NON SUM 273 


just as at the Last Supper our Lord celebrated the 
first Mass, so He communicated Himself before He 
gave His Flesh and Blood to the Apostles (Se dat 
suis manibus ) .*° 

The priest now takes up the two halves of the 
Sacred Host between the thumb and first finger of 
his left hand, holding the paten under the Sacred 
Element between the first and middle finger of the 
same hand. Bending slightly over the altar, he three 
times protests, in a raised voice, his unworthiness 
to receive the Lord of glory within the house of his 
soul. The words of the humble Centurion were 
admired by our Lord Himself: “Jesus hearing this, 
marvelled; and said to them that followed Him: 
Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith 
in Israel.’ ** Holy Church puts this protestation 
of humility on the lips of priest and people alike at 
the awful moment of Holy Communion, knowing 
that, if anything can render us less unworthy of so 
stupendous a favor, it is the acknowledgment of our 
sinfulness. Speaking of the Centurion St. Augustine 
says that “by calling himself unworthy, he rendered 
himself worthy that Christ should enter, not within 
the walls of his house, but within his heart. Nor 
would he have spoken with so much faith and 
humility, if he had not already borne in his heart 
Him whom he feared to see enter into his house.”’ * 

We strike our breast whilst saying Domine, non 
sum dignus, thus imitating the conduct of the pub- 


16 Summa Theol., III, Q. lxxxi, a. 1, ad 1. 
17 Matt., viii. ro. 
18 Sermo Ixit, 1. 


274 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


lican who, ‘‘standing afar off, would not so much as 
lift up his eyes towards heaven, but struck his 
breast.” 7° To strike one’s breast is a very old prac- 
tice which the Church took over from the Synagogue; 
in fact, it is the almost spontaneous act of one in 
affliction, or laboring under a sense of shame and 
guilt. From the sermons of St. Augustine we learn 
that his people struck their breasts when they recited 
the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: Dimitte nobis 
debita nostra (Forgive us our trespasses). It ap- 
pears that they struck their breasts quite frequently; 
thus, when Augustine explains the opening words of 
Psalm cvii (Confitemini Domino, etc.), he says: 
“When the lector pronounced this word [Confite- 
mini, literally, ‘Confess ye’ ], there was immediately a 
pious rumble from the people striking their breasts” 
(ubi hoc verbum lectoris ore sonuerit, continuo 
Strepitus pius pectora tundentium sequitur). Ap- 
parently the good people, hearing the word con- 
fitemini, at once struck their breasts, as was their 
wont when reminded of their sins, without waiting 
for the completion of the sentence, when the true 
meaning of the word would have been apparent. 
Hence, the holy Doctor hastens to explain its sig- 
nification in this instance. 

We strike our breast, or heart, as being the seat 
or origin of our sinfulness, according to the words 
of our Lord: “The things which proceed out of the 
mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things 
defile a man. For from the heart come forth evil 
thoughts.” ”° 


19 Luke, xvill. 313. 20 Matt., xv. 18, 19. 


AGNUS DEI TO DOMINE NON SUM 275 


The verse, Panem celestem accipiam, and the 
Domine, non sum dignus, as an immediate prepara- 
tion for the priest’s Communion, are first found in 
Sicardus, and shortly afterwards in Durandus (1215 
and 1296, respectively), but they were not definitely 
inserted in the Roman Mass until 1570, when St. 
Pius V carried out the decisions of the Council of 
Trent by publishing a revised and definitive edition 
of the Missal of the Latin Church. The following 
prayer is of interest, because it is found in the Sarum 
Missal, where it forms the priest’s immediate 
preparation for Holy Communion: “God our Father, 
fount and origin of all goodness, whose mercy 
prompted Thee to send down into this world Thine 
only Son, to take up our flesh, and whom I, most 
unworthy, now hold in my hands, I adore Thee, I 
glorify Thee; with all the strength of my mind and 
heart I praise Thee, beseeching Thee not to forsake 
us, [hy servants, but to forgive our sins, so that we 
may serve Thee, the only living and true God, with 
a pure heart and a chaste body.”’ 

Immediately before his Communion, the priest, 
according to the Sarum Rite, saluted the Sacred Host 
in these words: Ave in @aternum sanctissima caro 
Christi, mihi ante omnia, et super omnia, summa dul- 
cedo (Eternal hail, most holy Body of Christ, before 
all and above all else sovereignly sweet to me) ! 

Before taking the Precious Blood, the celebrant 
prayed thus: Ave in eternum ce@lestis potus, mthi 
ante omnia, et super omnia, summa dulcedo (Eternal 
hail, heavenly cup, before all and above all else 
sovereignly sweet to me) ! 


CHAPTER XXII 
The Communion of the Priest 


§ 1. The Consummation of the Mass. 


HE Communion is the consummation of our sac- 
rifice; it is also the moment of supreme union 
with the divine Victim: ‘“The chalice of benediction, 
which we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood 
of Christ? And the bread, which we break, is it not 
the partaking of the Body of the Lord?’* ‘The 
purpose of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is to make us 
to be one with Christ and with one another: ‘“‘we, 
being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake 
of one bread.” ? The word Communion is as old 
as Christianity. St. John Chrysostom, commenting 
on the above text of St. Paul, writes: ‘‘What is this 
bread? The Body of Christ. What do they become 
who partake of it? The body of Christ; not many 
bodies, but one body. For just as bread is made up 
of many grains, yet so that these are nowhere seen, 
and though they indeed remain, their diversity does 
not appear owing to their union (oneness), even so 
are we united both to one another and to Christ. 
2] Cor., x. 36. 
2Ibid., 17. 
276 


THE COMMUNION OF THE PRIEST 277 


For this one is not nourished by one body, and that 
other one by another, for all are fed by one and the 
same; hence he says: ‘we all partake of one 
breads # 4% 

At first, the breaking of the consecrated Bread 
took place immediately before its distribution at the 
moment of the Communion. To break bread is a 
consecrated phrase, and the eating of it is a normal 
and necessary sequel: ‘‘After the president has given 
thanks (made the Eucharist), and all the people 
have uttered the usual acclamation (4men), those 
who are called by us deacons give to each one present 
to share the Eucharistic bread and wine and water, 
and carry them to those not present. . . . We do 
not receive these things as common bread, or com- 
mon drink, but even as Jesus Christ our Saviour, 
having been made flesh by the word of God, had 
flesh and blood of our salvation, so we have learned 
that the food, made a Eucharist by the word of 
prayer that comes from Him, from which our blood 
and flesh are nourished, by change are the Flesh and 
Blood of the incarnate Jesus.’’* 

This text, to which many others might be added, 
establishes the fact that in the early days of the 
Church assistance at Mass always implied the recep- 
tion of the Holy Eucharist. All partook of what 
was offered in the name of all. There was likewise 
a very strict order of precedence in the reception 
of the consecrated Elements, The celebrant (that 


3 Hom. xxiv. in Ep. I ad Cor., x. 
4 Justin Martyr, cfr. Fortescue, The Mass, pp. 18, 19. 


278 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


is, the Bishop) communicated first; then the priests 
who concelebrated with him, the deacons and the 
rest of the clergy, and finally the entire people, in- 
cluding even little children. 

One of the chief preoccupations of the authors of 
the Roman Liturgy seems to have been to lay stress 
upon the fact that the Eucharist is a symbol and 
efficient cause of the oneness of Christ and the faith- 
ful. This was done in a very striking manner by 
means of the so-called fermentum. ‘The Pope, or 
officiating bishop, broke off a piece of the consecrated 
bread and communicated himself—another fragment 
of the same Host was dropped into the chalice—the 
clergy partook of the remainder of the consecrated 
Host and of the chalice from which the celebrant 
had drunk. For the Communion of the people, the 
Pope and other priests (or bishops) distributed the 
Eucharistic Bread, placing a fragment into the open 
right hand of each communicant (the men’s hand 
being bare, that of the women covered with a veil). 
The chalice, or chalices, used for the Communion 
of the laity differed from that of the Pope and 
clergy, but to emphasize the unity of the sacrifice 
and that of the Church, a few drops from the chalice 
of the celebrant were poured into that from which 
the deacons made the people drink of the Precious 
Blood. That the distribution of the Precious 
Blood was one of the offices of the deacons (their 
chief duty and privilege, in fact), we learn from the 
Acts of St. Lawrence: Experire utrum idoneum 
ministrum elegeris, cut commisisti Dominict sanguinis 
dispensationem (Try whether thou didst choose a 


THE COMMUNION OF THE PRIEST = 279 


fit minister when thou didst commit to me the dis- 
pensation of the Blood of the Lord).° 

According to the “Apostolic Constitutions,’’ when 
giving Holy Communion under the form of bread, 
the celebrant said to each communicant: ‘The Body 
of Christ”; and the deacon, whilst giving him to 
drink from the chalice, said: ‘“The Blood of Christ, 
the cup of life.’ The answer was in each case: 
“Amen.” “All over the world,” says St. Augustine, 
“Wwe say Amen, when we receive the price of our 
redemption.” © And again: Habet magnam vocem 
Christi sanguis in terra, quum eo accepto ab omnibus 
gentibus respondetur, Amen (The blood of Christ 
speaks with a loud voice all over the earth when, 
at the moment of receiving it, all the nations answer: 
Amen).7 The Amen of the communicant was his 
outward profession of faith that what was given him 
was the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Gradually 
this formula was expanded, and already in the time 
of St. Gregory the Great it has become: Corpus 
Domini nostri Jesu Christi conservet animam tuam 
(May the Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ preserve 
thy soul). This is almost our own: Corpus Domini 
nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam 
aternam (May the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ 
preserve thy soul to life everlasting). However, 
Amen is now said by the one who gives, not by him 
who recives Holy Communion, except at the Mass 
of ordination of priests, in which the candidates say 
the Amen. 


5 Cfr. Brev. Rom., Aug. ro. 
6 Enarr. in Ps. cxxv. 9. 
™ Contra Faust., XII, 10. 


’ 


280 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


§ 2. The Priest’s Communion. 


When the priest has concluded the threefold 
Domine non sum dignus, he takes the two fragments 
of the Host into his right hand, and, whilst tracing 
a cross with them over himself, he says: Corpus 
Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam meam 
invitam eternam. Amen. According to an answer of 
the Sacred Congregation of Rites, he bows his head 
as usual at the words Jesu Christi. After consuming 
the Sacred Host, he folds his hands before his face 
and remains for a while in contemplation of the great 
mystery (quiescit in meditatione sanctissimi Sacra- 
menti).® It is not opportune then to pray vocally, 
nor should the silent meditation be unduly pro- 
longed; aliquantulum must be taken in relation to 
the entire duration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. 

Then the priest uncovers the chalice and genu- 
flects, saying in the meantime: Quid retribuam 
Domino pro omnibus que retribuit mihi? (What 
shall I render to the Lord for all He hath rendered 
unto me?) According to the Ritus celebrandi, X, 
it is only after he has gathered the fragments and 
wiped the paten that the priest says: Calicem salu- 
taris accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo (1 will 
take the chalice of salvation, and call on the name 
of the Lord), taking at the same time the cup into 
his right hand. The rubric in the Canon seems to 
be at variance with this prescription, when it says: 
extergit patenam super calicem, interim dicens: Quid 
retribuam (he wipes the paten over the chalice, say- 


8 Rit. cel., X. 


THE COMMUNION OF THE PRIEST = 281 


ing meanwhile: ‘What shall I render, etc.’’) ; then 
he blesses himself with the chalice. Both ways would 
appear legitimate; in fact, the general practice of 
priests seems to be to recite the entire prayer whilst 
gathering the fragments that may be on the cor- 
poral, and wiping the paten. The rubric, speaking 
of the particles, says “if there are any” (si que 
sint) ; there may be none at all, if the Host has been 
carefully divided over the chalice. In any case, there 
is no cause for scraping almost the whole corporal, 
as some priests do, but only that part where the 
Host lay, and the places nearest to it. “The words 
at the reception of the Precious Blood are identical 
with those said at the Communion of the Host, ex- 
cept for the change of Corpus to Sanguis. The 
Precious Blood should be taken reverenter, accord- 
ing to the rubric—that is, with a sense of awe, and 
at the same time with outward dignity. The cup 
should not be removed from the lips, nor raised too 
high, and the Precious Blood should be taken in one 
cr two, or at the utmost in three draughts. 

On removing the chalice from his lips, the priest 
immediately holds it out to the server, who pours 
into it at first only wine for the purification of the 
chalice and the lips of the priest. There is nothing 
in the rubrics to justify the pause which some think 
themselves at liberty to make before they take the 
purification. Whilst purifying the Chalice the priest 
says: Quod ore sumpsimus, Domine, pura mente 
capiamus; et de munere temporali fiat nobis re- 
medium sempiternum (Grant, O Lord, that what 
we have taken with our mouth, we may receive with 


282 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


a pure mind; and of a temporal gift may it become 
for us an eternal remedy). The text of this prayer 
is already found in the Gelasian and in the Gregorian 
Sacramentary, but as a Postcommunion. We eat 
with our mouth, but only in a clean heart can we 
receive and retain the fruit of the altar of God. In 
those far-off days the faithful offered the material 
elements (munus temporale), which, when changed 
into the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God, became 
a means of eternal life. We may also interpret the 
prayer as signifying that the offering of the Eucha- 
ristic Sacrifice, which we make in the days of this 
temporal life, will become for us an enduring remedy 
against the evils which now beset us. Holy Church 
prays thus in the Postcommunion of Maundy Thurs- 
day: Quaesumus Domine Deus noster, ut, quod tem- 
pore nostre mortalitatis exsequimur, immortalitatis 
tue munere consequamur (We beseech Thee, O 
Lord our God, that what we pursue in the time of 
our mortality may be ours through the gift of Thine 
immortality). 

After the first purification, the priest places his 
thumbs and two first fingers over the mouth of the 
chalice and the server pours wine and water over 
them. In the meantime the celebrant prays: Corpus 
tuum, Domine, quod sumpsi, et Sanguis quem potavi, 
adhereat visceribus meis, et presta ut in me non 
remaneat scelerum macula, quem pura et sancta re- 
fecerunt Sacramenta (May Thy Body, O Lord, 
which I have received, and Thy Blood which I have 
drunk, cleave to my oat and grant that no stain 
of sin may remain in me, who have been refreshed 


THE COMMUNION OF THE PRIEST 283 


with pure and holy sacraments), Then he drinks 
the wine and water of the ablutions. 

The last prayer is in the singular, and would ap- 
pear to be a more recent addition. However, the 
ideas which it expresses are already found in a Post- 
communion of the Sacramentary of St. Leo: Sacro- 
sancti corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu 
Christi refectione vegetati, supplices Te rogamus, 
Deus, ut hoc remedio singulari, et ab omnium pec- 
catorum nos contagione purifices, et a periculorum 
muntias incursione cunctorum (Refreshed by partak- 
ing of the most sacred Body and Blood of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, we humbly beseech Thee, O God, that 
by this unique remedy Thou wouldst purify us from 
the contagion of all sins, and preserve us from all 
manner of perils). 

We pray that the Body and Blood of our Lord 
may cleave to our hearts (visceribus). In Biblical 
language the bowels (viscera) are described as the 
seat, or organ, of the feelings and emotions, even 
of the will itself. As we regard the heart as the 
seat of the emotions, “heart” is a more accurate and 
pleasing translation of viscera in this sense. Thus, 
Zachary sings of ‘‘the heart of God’s mercy.” ® And 
St. Paul tells the Philippians that ‘God is my wit- 
ness, how I long after you all in the heart of Jesus 
Christ.” ?° To the Corinthians he complains that, 
whereas “you are not straitened in us, but in your 
own heart you are straitened.”** The presence of 


® Luke, i. 78. 
10 Philip., i. 8. 
11 J] Cor., vi. 12. 


284 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 
the infinite Majesty of the Holy One of God within 


our hearts should blot out the stains of our sins and 
dispel our spiritual darkness, for ‘‘what fellowship 
hath light with darkness . . . and what agreement 
hath the temple of God with idols? For you are 
the temple of the living God; as God saith: I will 
dwell in them, and walk among them.” ” 

Quem pura et sancta refecerunt Sacramenta is 
used with reference solely to the sensible elements 
of the Eucharist. Though received under two 
material elements, it is but one Sacrament, giving to 
us the Flesh and Blood of the Son of the God of 
glory. ‘The brief moment of the priest’s Communion 
is among the most precious of his day. If the eyes 
of the Lord are upon the just and His ears unto their 
prayers,** how much more willingly will He not listen 
to the prayers and supplications of those with whom 
He deigns to share His own ineffable priesthood, at 
the very moment when He dwells within our breast! 


§ 3. The Antiphon of the Communion. 


After he has taken the ablutions and covered the 
chalice, the priest turns to the Missal and reads the 
Communion. This Antiphon is an abbreviated sur- 
vival of the chants that formerly accompanied the 
distribution of Holy Communion; in fact, it is the 
Antiphon of the Psalm, or Psalms, that were then 
sung. We still see traces of this custom in the Com- 
munion of the Mass for the Dead, which remains 


12]I Cor., vi. 14, 16. 
13 Ps, xxxlil. 16. 


THE COMMUNION OF THE PRIEST = 285 


responsorial to this day. St. Augustine tells us that 
he introduced into the African Church the practice 
of singing Psalms both at the Offertory and at 
the Communion. ‘The “Apostolic Constitutions’’ 
prescribe the singing of Psalm xxxiil at the Com- 
munion. From the fourth century onwards, this 
Psalm furnished the Communion chants on all days 
of the year: “Every day, when we have been filled 
with the bread of heaven, we say: Gustate et videte 
quam suavis est Dominus (Taste and see that the 
Lord is sweet).’’** Cassiodorus, in his commentary 
on Psalm xxxiii, leads us to think that such was the 
ordinary practice of the sixth century. On verse 6 
(Accedite ad eum et illuminamini), he says: Prius 
laudes premisit, choros ordinavit; nunc in secunda 
parte, et ad ipsam communicationem populus horta- 
tur accedere, ut Ecclesie future ritum monitor 
spiritualis infunderet (First he ordered hymns of 
praise and set up choirs of singers; the people are 
then encouraged to draw nigh, in order that the ritual 
of the Church to come might thus be foreshadowed). 
St. Augustine looks upon Psalm xxxiii as a Eucha- 
ristic one. His commentaries on it make that point 
very clear; thus, on verse 9 he says: Aperte modo 
de ipso Sacramento vult dicere ... Gustate et 
videte quoniam suavis est Dominus. Nonne aperit 
se psalmus? (The psalmist now speaks plainly of the 
Sacrament itself. . . . Taste and see how the Lord 
is sweet. Is not the psalm made plain?) * 

Later on various other chants were introduced, 


14St. Jerome, Comment. in Is., II, 2. 
15 Enarr. 1 in Ps. xxx111. 


286 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


one of the most popular being the well-known hymn 
of the Antiphonary of Bangor, which begins thus: 


Sanctt, venite, Christi corpus sumite, 
Sanctum libantes quo redempti sanguinem, 
Salvati Christi corpore et sanguine, 

A quo refecti laudes dicamus Deo.... 


Come, ye Saints, take the Body of Christ, 

Drink the Blood by which you have been redeemed 
We were saved by the Body and Blood of Christ, 
Refreshed by Him, let us give praise to God.16 


The Antiphon of the Communion is generally 
taken from the Psalms or from some other book of 
Holy Scripture. However, some few have been com- 
posed or adapted by Holy Church; for example, that 
of the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch is the exclama- 
tion of the holy Martyr when he heard the roaring 
of the wild beasts: Frumentum Christi sum, dentibus 
bestiarum molar, ut panis mundus inveniar (1 am the 
wheat of Christ: let me be ground by the teeth of 
wild beasts, that I may become pure bread)."" 

The Communion is generally in keeping with the 
character of the particular Mass, or with the spirit 
of the feast and the liturgical season. Very often 
it is taken from the same Psalm from which the 
Introit or the Gradual and Offertory have been 
drawn. Thus, the Mass generally ends on the same 
note as that on which it began. 

The Antiphon of the Communion on Easter-day 
sums up the whole mystery and the peculiar spirit 
of the greatest of Christian festivals. It proclaims 

16 Cfr. an article by Dom Leclercq in Dictionnaire d’archéol. 


chrét. et de liturgie, Ill, col. 2437. 
17 Missale Rom., 1 Feb. 


THE COMMUNION OF THE PRIEST 287 


the triumphant victory of Christ, and inculcates once 
more the lesson which the Apostle teaches in the 
Epistle of the day: Pascha nostrum immolatus est 
Christus, alleluia: itaque epulemur in azymis sin- 
ceritatis et veritatis, alleluta, alleluia, alleluia (Christ 
our Pasch is immolated, alleluia: therefore, let us 
feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and 
truth. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia). 


CHAPTER XXIII 
The Conclusion of the Mass 


§ 1. The Postcommunion. 


BN OHS reading the Antiphon of the Communion, 
the priest turns towards the assistants and 
greets them with the words which precede nearly all 
the Collects of the Church: Dominus vobiscum. 
Whilst the server answers Et cum spiritu tuo, the 
celebrant turns to the Missal to read the Postcom- 
munion. ‘This is a prayer of thanksgiving for the 
Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, of which the priest 
and presumably the assistants have partaken at the 
moment of the Communion. The prayer is already 
given the name of Postcommunion in the Gelasian 
Missal, though in the Gregorian it 1s called Com- 
plenda (or Oratio ad complendum), because it marks 
the completion or conclusion of the Eucharistic Sac- 
rifice. It is a thanksgiving, but a prayer also for the 
fullest realization on our part of the blessings we 
have received. The prayer is invariably in the plural. 
It is taken for granted that all the assistants have 
taken a full share in the sacrifice by the reception 
of Holy Communion. 

The structure of the Postcommunion does not dif- 
fer from that of the ordinary Collects, except that 

288 


THE CONCLUSION OF THE MASS 289 


in most of them there is an explicit allusion to Holy 
Communion. Very frequently the prayer is inspired 
by the character of the Mass, the spirit of the feast, 
or the period of the year. Thus, for instance the 
Postcommunion of Easter Sunday contains an allu- 
sion both to the Holy Eucharist and to the solemnity 
of the day: Spiritum nobis, Domine, tue charitatis 
infunde; ut, quos sacramentis paschalibus satiasti, tua 
facias pietate concordes (Pour forth into us, O Lord, 
the spirit of Thy charity: that those whom Thou 
hast fed with the Paschal sacraments, Thou mayest 
through Thy loving-kindness make of one mind). 
On all the weekdays of Lent we say an additional 
Prayer at the Communion, entitled Oratio super 
populum. Many explanations have been given of 
the origin of this Collect. Micrologus gives the fol- 
lowing: “The Prayer super populum is said during 
Lent, because the Prayer after Communion is 
generally only for those who have communicated. 
However, though the people come together every 
day of Lent, they do not communicate daily, as they 
should. ‘Therefore, lest they be deprived of prayer 
as well as of Communion, this Collect has been 
added, in which thanksgiving 1s not made to God, 
but supplication in behalf of the people.” * Another 
reason is given by Honorius of Autun, who says that 
this Prayer takes the place of the eulogiz, or blessed 
bread, which was distributed to the faithful after 
or in place of Holy Communion. During Lent these 
eulogig were not handed round because of the fast.? 


1 Microlog., 51. 
2Cfr. Bona, Rer. Liturg., II, 20. 


290 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


This is very plausible, but a much more likely ex- 
planation may be found in the fact that the Oratio 
super populum is invariably the Collect of Vespers. 
In Lent and on all fast days Mass was said after 
None; therefore, the next Office to follow would be 
Vespers. So it seems likely enough that the Vesper 
Office was joined to the Mass and completed before 
the final dismissal of the people. ‘This is the case 
to this day on Holy Saturday, when the Postcom- 
munion is also the Collect of the abbreviated Vesper 
Office of that day. The invitation to the people: 
Humviliate capita vestra Deo, is not found in old 
manuscripts, and was evidently added when the 
Prayer became an exclusive feature of the Lenten 
Mass. 

The Postcommunion is the common and official 
thanksgiving after Communion. In the account 
which St. Augustine gives to Paulinus of the mode 
of celebration in the African churches of his day, the 
holy Doctor says: VParticipato tanto sacramento, 
gratiarum actio cuncta concludit (After participating 
in so great a sacrament, we conclude everything with 
thanksgiving). The note of thanksgiving is always 
struck in this concluding prayer, but it invariably in- 
cludes a petition also. On the first Sunday after 
Pentecost we pray thus: Tantis, Domine, repleti 
muneribus, presta quesumus, ut et salutaria dona 
capiamus, et a tua numquam laude cessemus (Grant, 
we beseech Thee, O Lord, to us who have been filled 
with such great favors, that we may lay hold upon 
‘Thy salutary gifts and never cease to praise Thee). 

3 Ep. ad Paulin., 149, in Migne, no. 16. 


THE CONCLUSION OF THE MASS _ 291 


Whilst we return thanks to God for having allowed 
us to partake of so precious a gift as the Flesh and 
Blood of His beloved Son, it is natural that we 
should beseech Him to preserve in us and bring to 
full maturity the grace of holiness of which the 
Eucharist is the source and token. We give thanks 
to God whenever we turn to Him, even if we make 
no formal acts of gratitude, for every prayer and 
supplication implies a confession on our part that 
of ourselves we can do nothing and that all our 
suficiency is from Him. Prayer is necessarily a 
glorification of the Majesty of God, for we should 
not send up supplications to Him, did we not know 
and confess that ‘“‘every best and every perfect gift 
is from above, coming down from the Father of 
lights.” ¢ 

On the conclusion of the last prayer, the celebrant 
returns to the middle of the altar, kisses it, and turn- 
ing towards the people, says Dominus vobiscum. 
After the server’s reply, the priest says: Ite, Missa 
est (Go, the Mass is ended). On ferial days he 
says instead: Benedicamus Domino: and at Requiem 
Masses: Requiescant in pace, turned in these last 
two cases, not towards the people, but towards the 
altar. Up till the middle of the eleventh century, 
Ite, Missa est, was the invariable conclusion of the 
Roman Mass. 

There has been much and long discussion about 
the meaning of the word Missa, which has given its 
name to the whole of the Liturgical Sacrifice. The 
word signifies a formal dismissal. From the earliest 


4James, i. 17. 


292 PRIEST CAD) Rear AR 


days of the Church we find traces of some such cere- 
monial declaration that the assistants may depart. 
Even the pagans had such formulas. At the con- 
clusion of a Roman funeral, the leader of the hired 
mourners cried out: Jlicet (1.e., ire licet, you may 
go)! Whilst the lex arcani was enforced, the Cate- 
chumens were bidden to leave the assembly of the 
faithful before the’ beginning of the Eucharistic 
celebration. ‘There can be little doubt that this was 
done in words which closely resemble our present 
form of dismissal; hence the word Missa came to be 
connected, in the minds of both Catechumens and 
faithful, with the most sacred part of the Liturgy, 
that is, the Mass. Thus, in a sermon of St. Augus- 
tine we read: “After the sermon the dismissal of the 
Catechumens takes place: the faithful alone will re- 
main” (Ecce post sermonem fit missa Catechumenis ; 
manebunt fideles).° Here the word missa obviously 
signifies dismissal. By a transition which it is easy 
to understand, the word was retained to describe 
the chief liturgical function of the Church. 

We find a form of dismissal already in Tertullian. 
The oldest Ordo Romanus prescribes that, at the 
end of the service, one of the deacons shall say to 
the people: Ite, missa est. Before that time, St. 
John Chrysostom had warned Christians not to leave 
the assembly of the faithful until bidden to do so: 
“Hast thou entered into a church, do not leave be- 
fore the dismissal” (Ingressus es in Ecclesiam, 0 
homo; ne exeas nisi dimittaris ) .° 


5 Sermo xlix, 3. 
6 Cfr. Bona, Rer. Liturg., II, 20. 


THE CONCLUSION OF THE MASS 293 


Micrologus gives the reason why Ite Missa est 
is omitted on certain days: “It is right that on fes- 
tival days te Missa est should be said, because on 
such days there is a larger concourse of people, and 
they are wont to receive leave to depart in these 
words. But on ordinary days there is no such at- 
tendance of the people at Mass, but only on the part 
of Religious, who give more attention to spiritual 
than to worldly matters, and who also assist at the 
other offices. Hence, it is meet that these should 
not be bidden to depart immediately after Mass, 
but rather that they bless God.” As for Advent and 
Lent, the reason why Benedicamus Domino replaces 
Ite Missa est is the desire to express the sadness 
of those days (pro tristitia temporis insinuanda). 
A simpler, but truer explanation is that the faithful 
are asked to stay for the remainder of the Canonical 
Ofhice—that is, Vespers, as we have seen above. 


§ 2. Placeat. 


Since the twelfth century the formal dismissal of 
the people no longer marks the conclusion of the 
Mass. Up till that time, the clergy withdrew from 
the altar and the Pontiff blessed the people whilst 
returning to the sacristy. In the eleventh century 
simple priests began to bless the people as they were 
about to leave the sanctuary. ‘The blessing is pre- 
ceded by the prayer Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas. 
This was only a private prayer which the priest re- 
cited as he left the altar. “Everything having been 


294 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


finished, the priest kisses the altar, saying: ‘O Holy 
Trinity, let the performance of my homage be pleas- 
ing to Thee’” (Finitis omnibus, osculatur sacerdos 
altare, dicens: Placeat tibi, sancta Trinitas)." This 
prayer is addressed directly to the adorable Trinity. 
In it the priest expresses, as it were for the last time, 
the dispositions which have animated and upheld him 
during the Holy Sacrifice, as well as the motives for 
which he has offered it. The Mass is the most per- 
fect acknowledgment of our obligations towards the 
Majesty of the three divine Persons (obsequium 
servilulis mea). Obsequium signifies divine worship, 
or such homage as may be offered to God alone: 
venit hora ut omnis qui interficit vos arbitretur obse- 
quium se prestare Deo (the hour cometh that who- 
soever killeth you, will think that he doth a service 
to God). We pray that what we have offered may 
be, our unworthiness notwithstanding, acceptable to 
God and beneficial to those in whose behalf we have 
offered it. 

In the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom there 1s 
also a final prayer for those who have assisted at 
the Holy Sacrifice: “O Lord, who blessest those who 
bless Thee and sanctifiest those that put their trust 
in Thee, save Thy people and bless Thine inheri- 
tance; protect the whole body of Thy Church and 
sanctify those who love the beauty of Thy house. 
Do Thou endow them with Thy divine power, and 
forsake not us who set our hope in Thee .. . to 
Thee we ascribe glory and thanks and worship, to 


7 Micrologus, 22. 
8 John, xvi. 2. 


THE CONCLUSION OF THE MASS ~ 295 


the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, 
now, and for ever, and from all ages to all ages.”’ 

The Liturgy of the Maronites has a touching 
prayer, which is the priest’s farewell to the altar of 
sacrifice and is recited at the end of Mass: ‘‘Abide 
in peace, holy altar, I shall return to thee in peace. 
May the oblation which I have taken from thee be 
unto me for a propitiation and remission of my debts 
and sins, so that I may stand before the throne of 
Christ without condemnation and confusion. I know 
not whether or not I shall return to offer sacrifice 
again upon thee.” ° 


§ 3. The Blessing. 


During the prayer Placeat, the priest places his 
joined hands upon the edge of the altar, and bows 
his head (capite inclinato). At its conclusion he 
kisses the altar, raises his eyes and extended hands 
to heaven, folds his hands again and bows to the 
cross, saying in the meantime: Benedicat vos omni- 
potens Deus. Then he turns towards the people and 
blesses them by tracing the sign of the cross over 
them whilst he says: Pater, et Filius, et Spiritus 
Sanctus. The server answers: Amen. 

A final blessing of the assistants is found in most 
Liturgies. The power to bless belongs to the priest- 
hood, and has always been exercised by it. Even 
the priests of the Old Law blessed the people, though 
their blessing was more by way of supplication to 
obtain God’s goodwill towards His people. God 


9Bona, loc. cit. 


296 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


Himself deigned to prescribe the form of that bless- 
ing: ‘“Thus shall you bless the children of Israel, 
and you shall say to them: The Lord bless thee, and 
keep thee. The Lord show His face to thee, and 
have mercy on thee. The Lord turn His countenance 
to thee and give thee peace.’’*® ‘The concluding 
verse of the chapter shows the nature of the Levitical 
blessing: ‘“They shall invoke My name upon the 
children of Israel; and I will bless them,’ 

The priesthood of the New Law is endowed with 
a direct and real power to bless things and persons, 
and this power flows directly from the priestly char- 
acter. In the hour of his ordination, the priest’s 
hands are anointed with oil, whilst the bishop prays 
that God would “consecrate and sanctify these hands, 
through our unction and Thy blessing, that whatso- 
ever things they shall bless, may be blessed; and 
whatsoever things they shall consecrate, may be con- 
secrated and made holy in the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ.”” By his blessing, therefore, the priest 
bestows a special sanctity upon the object blessed. 
The efficacy of the priestly blessing is akin to the 
virtue of the Sacraments in the sense that, as in the 


Sacraments the external rite signifies and actually _ 


causes an inward grace, so the external rite of bless- 
ing bestows upon the soul certain special helps called 
actual graces. Sanctifying grace is not directly in- 
creased by the priest’s blessing, but this blessing dis- 
poses the soul for such an increase even as all actual 
graces do. The blessing is always given by tracing 
a cross over the objects or persons to whom it is 


10 Num., vi. 23-26. 


THE CONCLUSION OF THE MASS ~— 297 


imparted. In the Eastern Liturgies this is often 
done with a two- or three-branched candle. At the 
conclusion of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, 
the priest says: “‘May the blessing of the Lord and 
His mercy always come upon you, through His divine 
favor and compassion, now, and for ever, and from 
all ages to all ages. Glory to Thee, O Christ, our 
God and our Hope, glory to Thee.” 

St. Augustine alludes several times to the custom 
of blessing the people. Speaking of the dissensions 
brought about by the Pelagians, he says: benedic- 
tionibus nostris resistitur, quando super populum 
dicimus, optantes et et poscentes a Domino.” Before 
him Tertullian thus rebukes a pagan: ‘Whereas 
with us every blessing pronounced in the name of 
the God of goodness and kindness is a thing of the 
highest sacredness . . . thou sayest as readily as 
any Christian need: ‘God bless thee.’ ”’ 

The blessing of the priest has a marvellous 
efficacy, because it is not merely a prayer or a mark 
of kindliness on his part, but an exercise of the mys- 
terious powers with which he is invested. He blesses 
the people as the minister and representative of God, 
and hence, with obvious limitations, to his blessing 
also may be applied what St. Augustine says of the 
blessing of God: Deus, cum benedicit, facitt quod 
dicit (When God blesses, He does what the words 
signify).7* The point of Augustine’s saying is in the 
antithesis: benedicere and benefacere (to speak well 

11 Fp. clexix, 30. 


12 Tertullian, De testim. anima, 2. 
13 Fmarr. in Ps. cvtit, 30. 


298 PRIEST VAT THE SAL TAR 


and to do well). God does not merely wish us well, 
He bestows good things upon us; for He 1s the 
source of all good. 


§ 4. The Last Gospel. 


The magnificent revelation of the splendor and 
glory of God’s eternal life, which we are given in 
the first fourteen verses of the first chapter of the 
Gospel of St. John, has always secured a special 
reverence and devotion for this portion of the in- 
spired text. The custom of reciting this section of 
the Fourth Gospel at the end of Mass 1s, however, 
one of the very last additions to the Liturgy. The 
first mention of such a recitation is found in Duran- 
dus, who says that some priests, desirous of reciting 
at the end of Mass the Gospel of St. John, or some 
other Gospel, make first a sign of the cross upon the 
altar, and afterwards upon their forehead (quidam 
volentes dicere, finita Missa, evangelium Sancti 
Joannis, vel aliud, imprimunt primo signum crucis 
super altare, et postea in fronte).** However, the 
custom was for the priest to say this Gospel, not at 
the altar, but on his way to the sacristy, by way of 
thanksgiving. Such is, for instance, the prescription 
of the Sarum Missal. It finally became an integral 
part of the Mass in the Missal of St. Pius V in 1570. 
But to this day a bishop, when celebrating pon- 
tifically, only says the beginning of the Gospel at 
the altar (Dominus vobiscum and Initium Sanctt 


14 Durandus, Rationale div. off., IV, 24. 


THE CONCLUSION OF THE MASS 299 


Evangelii secundum Joannem); the Gospel itself he 
recites whilst returning to the throne. 

The priest bends the knee at the words: Et Ver- 
bum caro factum est, as an act of homage to the 
Incarnate Word, whom the Angels worshipped upon 
His entrance into this world.** On certain days the 
Gospel of St. John is replaced by another, but, as 
the Ordo invariably warns the priest of such a 
change, there is no need to enumerate those days. 

The first chapter of St. John’s Gospel has always 
been an object of wonder and admiration. St. 
Augustine relates that a certain philosopher of the 
school of Plato was wont to say that the beginning 
of the Gospel of St. John should be written in letters 
of gold and set up in a prominent place in all the 
churches of the world." 

St. John has spoken of the divinity of our Lord 
as no other Evangelist has done. Hoc ructabat quod 
biberat, says St. Augustine in an untranslatable 
phrase. It is not without cause that it is said of 
him that, at the Last Supper, he rested his head upon 
the breast of the Lord. ‘He drank in secret from 
that breast, but what he had drunk secretly, he pub- 
lished openly (De illo ergo pectore in secreto bibe- 
bat, sed quod in secreto bibit, in manifesto eruc- 
tavit), so that all nations should hear, not only of 
the Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection of the Son 
of God, but likewise that, ere He became incarnate, 
He was the Only Begotten, the Word of the 
Father.” #7 


15 Heb. 1. 6. 
16 De civ. Det, X, 29. | 
17 Tract. in Ioan., xxxvt. 


300 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


At the end of the Last Gospel, the server says 
Deo Gratias, and thus the Mass comes to an end. 
After a private Mass we are now bound to recite 
three Hail Marys, the Hail Holy Queen, and the 
two prayers first prescribed by Leo XIII, whose 
command has been maintained by successive Popes 
ever since. The threefold invocation of the Sacred 
Heart is strongly recommended. These prayers are 
in no sense part of the Mass. The Holy Sacrifice 
ends with the final Deo Gratias, which suggests to 
the priest the all-important duty of returning thanks 
to God for the wonderful favors he has received. 


CHAPTER XXIV 
Thanksgiving After Mass 


HE rubric of the Missal says: Finito Evangelio 

Sancti Joannis, discedens ab altari, pro gratia- 
rum actione dicit Antiphonam ‘Trium Puerorum, 
cum reliquis.... The Canticle of the Three Young 
Men in the furnace and Psalm cl, with its versicles, 
and the three short prayers that follow, are the very 
minimum of the priest’s thanksgiving. Since the 
rubric is so explicit in prescribing this thanksgiving, 
it appears that it could not be omitted without a 
real disobedience to the will of Holy Church, and, 
as a consequence, without incurring the guilt of venial 
sin. Moreover, the Codex juris canonici emphatically 
enjoins both a private preparation before and a per- 
sonal thanksgiving after Mass, so that it would 
appear that the priest has not fulfilled all his obliga- 
tions even when he has recited the Benedicite whilst 
returning to the sacristy. The following is the injunc- 
tion of Canon 810: Sacerdos ne omittat ad Eucha- 
ristict Sacrificit oblationem sese ptis precibus dis- 
ponere, eoque expleto gratias Deo pro tanto bene- 
ficto agere (Let the priest not neglect to prepare 
himself by devout prayers for the oblation of the 
Eucharistic Sacrifice, and, at its termination, to 
return thanks to God for so great a benefit). This 

301 


302 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


personal thanksgiving should be prolonged according 
to one’s strength and grace. Spiritual writers tell 
us unanimously that the priest should not allow it 
to dwindle down to less than a quarter of an hour. 
No doubt, his prayer must not be measured by the 
length of time he spends on his knees. Its value 
depends chiefly upon the fervor and intensity of his 
interior acts. But there is a virtue even in mere 
material faithfulness to a period of prayer which one 
has laid down as a law unto oneself and from which 
one does not permit either coldness or distractions 
to make one swerve. A priest’s thanksgiving can 
be greatly helped if he recites, more with the heart 
than with the lips, slowly and deliberately, the 
prayers suggested by Holy Church in the official 
thanksgiving to be found in the Missal or Breviary. 
Moreover, the attentive and prayerful reading of and 
meditation on a chapter of the Fourth Book of The 
Imitation, or a chapter of the New Testament or 
any spiritual book, will help him to make at least 
some return to the Author of every best and perfect 
gift. Let the priest speak to his Lord in the glowing 
words of the great Benedictine mystic, St. Gertrude: 
“O Jesus, full of love, Thou sweetest Guest of my 
soul, may Thine exquisite and ravishing union with 
me be to me today the remission of all my sins, the 
satisfaction of all my negligences, and my return to 
the life I had lost. May it be my everlasting salva- 
tion, the healing of my soul and of my body, the 
enlargement of my love, my renewal in virtue, and 
the establishment of my life in Thee for evermore! 
May it be within me the source of all virtues, the 


THANKSGIVING AFTER MASS 303 


end of all sin, the increase of all good and the ever- 
lasting covenant of Thy love, so that my body alone 
may linger in this place of exile, and the whole 
energy of my soul be there, where Thou art, my 
heritage beyond all price.” ? 

Gratias misericordia ipsius, gratias gratia ipsius. 
Nos enim gratias agimus, non damus, nec reddimus, 
nec referimus, nec rependimus; gratias verbis agimus, 
rem tenemus [Thanks to His mercy, thanks to His 
grace. We express our thanks: we do not give 
them, nor return them, nor repay them: we express 
our thanks in words, while we retain possession of 
the (unrequited) benefit ].? 

After the institution of the Holy Eucharist, which 
was also the celebration of the first Mass, at the con- 
clusion of which the Apostles made their first Com- 
munion, Jesus Christ, together with His disciples, 
sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving: Hymno 
dicto, exierunt in montem Oliveti.2 Holy Church 
would have her children make of thanksgiving a con- 
stant and lifelong task. More than one Postcom- 
munion concludes with some such phrase: da que- 
sumus ut in gratiarum semper actione maneamus. 
Such is the prayer we address to God on the Feast 
of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, of whom it is related that, 
as the custom then was, he received Holy Com- 
munion on the Sunday, giving the three preceding 
days to preparation and spending the three following 
days in thanksgiving. 


1 Exercises of St. Gertrude, I. es 
2St. Augustine, Enarrat. in Ps. Ixxxviii, sub fine. 
3 Matt., xxvi. 30. 


304 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


The priest’s thanksgiving should be made before 
the Blessed Sacrament—before the altar still re- 
dolent with the sweet fragrance of the Eucharistic 
Sacrifice. Let us beware of telescoping our thanks- 
giving and the recitation of some part of the Office 
into the small compass of this most precious quarter 
of an hour. If the priest’s occupations be manifold 
and pressing, they are a reason, not for shortening, 
but rather for lingering over his thanksgiving. We 
can only fulfill our priestly duties worthily and 
profitably, if prayer is like an atmosphere that sur- 
rounds us and clings to us. When the faithful shall 
see their pastor on his knees before his Lord, they 
will feel impelled to follow where he leads, and we 
shall less frequently behold the sorry spectacle of 
people leaving church almost before the conclusion 
of a Mass at which they have communicated. 

By way of concluding our brief study of the 
adorable Sacrifice of the Mass, it will be interesting 
to quote one or two passages from the writings of 
men differing widely in their ideas on religion, who 
yet speak of the Eucharistic Sacrifice in terms of such 
glowing eloquence that they bear repeated quotation. 

Mr. Augustine Birrell is not a Catholic (if we 
are not mistaken, he is a Baptist), but he is far from 
blind to the beauty and solemnity of Catholic belief 
and worship. In a paper contributed to The Nine- 
teenth Century, entitled ‘“‘What happened at the 
Reformation?” Mr. Birrell coined the oft-repeated 
dictum:)"'Tt is the: Mass» that, matters!” >The 
Mass,” the writer says, “is a mystery so tremendous, 
so profoundly attractive, so intimately associated 


THANKSGIVING AFTER MASS 305 


with the keystone of the Christan faith, so vouched 
for by the testimony of Saints. . . . If the Incarna- 
tion be indeed the one divine event to which the 
whole creation moves, the miracle of the altar may 
well seem its restful shadow cast over a dry and 
thirsty land, for the help of man who is apt to be 
discouraged if perpetually told that everything really 
important and interesting happened once for all, long 
ago, in a chill, historic past. Jt is the Mass that 
matters. It is the Mass that makes the difference, 
so hard to define—so subtle is it, yet so perceptible 
—between a Catholic country and a Protestant one, 
between Dublin and Edinburgh, between Havre and 
Cromer.” * 

In Loss and Gain, Cardinal Newman puts into the 
mouth of one of the characters of the story (which 
is obviously autobiographical) words describing the 
Mass in a way in which only this great master of 
style could have depicted it: ‘“To me nothing is so 
consoling, so piercing, so thrilling, so overcoming as 
the Mass, said as it is among us. I could attend 
Masses for ever, and not be tired. It is not a mere 
form of words: it is a great action, the greatest 
action that can be on earth. It is not the invocation 
merely, but, if I dare use the word, the evocation 
of the Eternal. He becomes present on the altar in 
flesh and blood, before whom Angels bow and devils 
tremble. This is that awful event which is the end, 
and is the interpretation, of every part of the 
solemnity. Words are necessary, but as a means, 
not as ends: they are not mere addresses to the 


4 Augustine Birrell in “The Nineteenth Century,’ April, 1896. 


306 PRIEST AT THE ALTAR 


throne of grace; they are instruments of what is far 
higher—of consecration, of sacrifice. They hurry 
on as if impatient to fulfill their mission. Quickly 
they go, the whole is quick; for they are all parts 
of one integral action. Quickly they go; for they 
are awful words of sacrifice, they are a work too 
great to delay upon; as when it was said in the begin- 
ning: ‘What thou doest, do quickly.’ Quickly they 
pass; for the Lord Jesus goes with them, as He 
passed along the lake in the days of His flesh, quickly 
calling first one and then another. Quickly they 
pass; because as the lightning which shineth from 
one part of the heaven unto the other, so is the com- 
ing of the Son of Man. Quickly they pass; for they 
are as the words of Moses, when the Lord came 
down in the cloud, calling on the name of the Lord 
as he passed by: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good- 
ness and truth.’ And as Moses on the mountain, so 
we too ‘make haste and bow our heads to the earth, 
and adore.’ So we, all around, each in his place, 
look out for the great Advent, ‘waiting for the mov- 
ing of the water.’ [Each in his place, with his own 
heart, with his own wants, with his own thoughts, 
with his own intentions, with his own prayers, separate 
but concordant, watching what is going on, watching 
its progress, uniting in its consummation—not pain- 
fully and hopelessly following a hard form of prayer 
from beginning to end, but like a concert of musical 
instruments, each different, but concurring in a sweet 
harmony, we take our part with God’s priest, sup- 
porting him, yet guided by him. There are little 


THANKSGIVING AFTER MASS 307 


children there, and old men, and simple laborers, and 
students in seminaries, priests preparing for Mass, 
priests making their thanksgiving; there are innocent 
maidens, and there are penitents; but out of these 
many minds rises one Eucharistic hymn, and the 
great Action is the measure and the scope of it.’ ® 

Let us conclude with a quotation from a book 
which enjoyed immense popularity during the cen- 
turies which immediately preceded the Reformation, 
viz., The Lay Folk’s Mass Book: 


The worthiest thing, most of goodness, 
In all this world, it is the Mass. 

If a thousand clerks did nought else, 
(According to Saint Jerome tells) 
But told the virtue of Mass-singing, 
And the profit of Mass-hearing, 

Yet should they never the fifth part, 
For all their wit and all their art, 
Tell the virtue, meeds, and pardon 
To them that with devotion, 

In cleanness and with good inten‘ 
Do worship to this Sacrament. 


5 Less and Gain, XX. 


ne 
yp 


A 
it 
u 





APPENDIX 
THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS + 


1 As some of the explanations in the body of this work have been 
based on the Mass for Easter-day, the variable parts of the Mass 
have been taken from that feast. 


When the priest has vested, he goes to the altar, preceded 

by the server, bows before the altar (or genuflects, if the 

Blessed Sacrament is in the tabernacle), makes the sign of 
the cross, and says aloud: 


In nomine Patris, et Filii, In the name of the Father, 
et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Amen. 


Then he joins his hands before his breast and begins the 
Antiphon. 


Introibo ad altare Dei. P. I will go unto the altar 
of God. 
R. Ad Deum qui letificat R. To God, who giveth 
juventutem meam. joy to my youth. 


Then he says the following Psalm xlii alternately with the 
server: 


S. Judica me, Deus, et dis- P. Judge me, O God, and 
cerne causam meam de gente distinguish my cause from the 
non sancta; ab homine iniquo nation that is not holy; de- 
et doloso erue me. liver me from the unjust and 

deceitful man. 

M. Quia tu es, Deus, for- R. For Thou, O God, art 
titudo mea: quare me repu- my strength, why hast Thou 


309 


310 


listi, et quare tristis incedo, 
dum affligit me inimicus? 


P. Emitte lucem tuam et 
veritatem tuam; ipsa me de- 
duxerunt et adduxerunt in 
montem sanctum tuum, et in 
tabernacula tua. 

M. Et introibo ad altare 
Dei: ad Deum, qui letificat 
juventutem meam. 

S. Confitebor tibi in ci- 
thara, Deus, Deus meus: 
quare tristis es, anima mea? 
et quare conturbas me? 


M. Spera in Deo, quoniam 
adhuc confitebor illi:  salu- 
tare vultus mei, et Deus 
meus. 

S. Gloria Patri, et Filio, 
et Spiritui Sancto. 

M. Sicut erat in principio, 
et nunc, et ‘semper, et in 
secula seculorum. Amen. 


APPENDIX 


cast me Off? and why go I 
sorrowful whilst the enemy 
afficteth me? 

P. Send forth Thy light 
and Thy truth: they have 
led me and brought me unto 
Thy holy hill, and into Thy 
tabernacles. 

R. And I will go unto the 
altar of God: to God, who 
giveth joy to my youth. 

P. To Thee, O God, my 
God, I will give praise on 
the harp: why art thou sad, 
O my soul? and why dost 
thou disquiet me? 

R. Hope in God, for I will 
still give praise to Him: the 
salvation of my countenance, 
and my God. 

P. Glory be to the Father, 
etc. 

R. As it was in the begin- 
ning, is now, and ever shall 
be, world without end. Amen. 


He now repeats the Antiphon: 


V. Introibo ad altare Dei. 


R. Ad Deun, qui letificat 


juventutem meam. 


P. I will go unto the altar 


of God. 
R. To God, who giveth 
joy to my youth. 


Making the sign of the cross on himself, the priest then says: 


V. Adjutorium nostrum in 


nomine Domini. 


R. Qui fecit coelum et ter- 


Tam. 


P. Our help is in the name 
of the Lord. 
R. Who hath made heaven 


and earth. 


+ ae 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


311 


Then, joining his hands and bowing profoundly, he says the 
Confiteor. 


S. Confiteor Deo omnipo- 
tenti, etc. 

M. Misereatur tui omni- 
potens Deus, et dimissis pec- 
catis tuis, perducat te ad 
vitam eternam. 

S. Amen. 

M. Confiteor Deo omnipo- 
tenti,, beata Mariza semper 
Virgini, beato Michaeli Arch- 
angelo, beato Joanni Baptiste, 
sanctis Apostolis Petro et 
Paulo, omnibus Sanctis, et 
tibi pater, quia peccavi nimis 
cogitatione, verbo, et opere, 
mea culpa, mea culpa, mea 
maxima culpa. Ideo precor 
beatam Mariam semper Vir- 
ginem, beatum Michaelem 
Archangelum, beatum Joan- 
nem Baptistam, sanctos Apos- 
tolos Petrum et Paulum, 
omnes Sanctos, et te pater, 
orare pro me ad Dominum 
Deum nostrum. 


P. 1 confess to Almighty 
God, etc. 

R. May Almighty God 
have mercy upon thee, forgive 
thee thy sins, and bring thee 
to life everlasting. 

P...Amen: 

R. I confess to Almighty 
God, to blessed Mary ever 
Virgin, to blessed Michael 
the Archangel, to blessed 
John the Baptist, to the holy 
Apostles Peter and Paul, to 
all the Saints, and to you, 
father, that I have sinned ex- 
ceedingly in thought, word, 
and deed, [he here strikes his 
breast thrice| through my 
fault, through my fault, 
through my most grievous 
fault. Therefore, I beseech 
the blessed Mary ever Virgin, 
blessed Michael the Arch- 
angel, blessed» John the Bap- 
tist, the holy Apostles Peter 
and Paul, and all the Saints, 
and you, father, to pray to 
the Lord our God for me. 


Then the priest, with his hands joined, gives the Absolution, 
saying: 


S. Misereatur vestri omni- 
potens Deus, et dimissis pec- 
catis vestris, perducat vos ad 
vitam zternam. 


M. Amen. 


P. May Almighty God 
have mercy upon you, forgive 
you your sins, and bring you 
to life everlasting. 


R. Amen. 


312 


APPENDIX 


Signing himself with the sign of the cross, he says: 


S. Indulgentiam, absolu- 
tionem, et remissionem pecca- 
torum nostrorum tribuat nobis 
omnipotens et misericors Do- 
minus. 


M. Amen. 


P. May the almighty and 
merciful Lord grant us par- 
don, absolution, and remis- 
sion of our sins. 


R. Amen. 


Then, bowing down, he continues: 


V. Deus, tu conversus vivi- 
ficabis nos. 

R. Et plebs tua letabitur 
in te. 

V.. Ostende nobis, Domine, 
misericordiam tuam. 

R. Et salutare tuum da 
nobis. 

V. Domine, 
ticnem meam. 

R. Et clamor meus ad te 
veniat. 

V. Dominus vobiscum. 

R. Et cum spiritu tuo. 


exaudi ora- 


P. Thou wilt turn again, 
O God, and quicken us. 

R. And Thy people shall 
rejoice in Thee. 

P. Show us, O Lord, Thy 
mercy. 

R. And grant us Thy sal- 
vation. 

oC) hs Lord: 
prayer. 

R. And let my cry come 
unto Thee. 

P. The Lord be with you. 

R. And with thy spirit. 


hear my 


Extending and joining his hands, he says aloud Oremus; then, 
while ascending to the altar, he says in a low voice: 


Aufer a nobis, quesumus, 
Domine, iniquitates nostras; 
ut ad Sancta sanctorum puris 
mereamur mentibus introire. 
Per Christum Dominum nos- 
trum. Amen. 


Take away from us our 
iniquities, we beseech Thee, 
O Lord: that we may be 
worthy to enter with pure 
minds into the Holy of 
Holies. ‘Through Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


313 


Bowing down over the altar with joined hands, he says: 


Oramus te, Domine, per 
merita sanctorum tuorum quo- 
rum reliquiz hic sunt, et om- 
nium sanctorum, ut indulgere 
digneris omnia peccata mea. 
Amen. 


We beseech Thee, O Lord, 
by the merits of Thy saints 
whose relics are here [here he 
kisses the altar|, and of all 
the saints, that Thou wouldst 
vouchsafe to forgive me all 
my sins. Amen, 


Then the priest, signing himself with the sign of the cross, 
reads the Introit. 


STATION AT ST. 


Introitus. Ps. 138. 


Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum 
sum, alleluia: posuisti super 
me manum tuam, alleluia: 
mirabilis facta est scientia tua, 
alleluia, alleluia. Ps. Domine, 
probasti me, et cognovisti me: 
tu cognovisti sessionem meam, 


et resurrectionem meam. /. 
Gloria Patri. 


Mary Major 


Introit. Ps. 138. 

I have arisen, and am still 
with Thee, alleluia: Thou 
hast laid Thy hand upon Me, 
alleluia: Thy knowledge is 
become wonderful, alleluia, 
alleluia. Ps. Lord, Thou hast 
proved Me, and known Me: 
Thou hast known My sitting 
down, and My rising up. JV. 
Glory be to the Father, etc. 


Then, with joined hands, the priest says alternately with the 
server: 


Kyrie eleison. Kyrie elei- 
son. Kyrie eleison. 

Christe eleison. Christe 
eleison. Christe eleison. 

Kyrie eleison. Kyrie elei- 
son. Kyrie eleison. 


Lord, have mercy upon us 
(thrice). 

Christ, have mercy upon us 
(thrice). 

Lord, have mercy upon us 


(thrice). 


314 


APPENDIX 


Afterwards, standing at the middle of the altar, extending 
and then joining his hands, he says the Gloria in excelsis: 


Gloria in excelsis Deo; et 
in terra pax hominibus bone 
voluntatis. Laudamus te; 
benedicimus te; adoramus te; 
glorificamus te. Gratias agi- 
mus tibi propter magnam 
gloriam tuam, Domine Deus, 
Rex ccelestis, Deus Pater om- 
nipotens. Domine Fili uni- 
genite Jesu Christe; Domine 
Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Pa- 
tris, qui tollis peccata mundi, 
miserere nobis; qui tollis pec- 
cata mundi, suscipe depreca- 
tionem nostram: qui sedes ad 
dexteram Patris, miserere 
nobis. Quoniam tu solus 
sanctus: tu solus Dominus: 
tu. solus altissimus, Jesu 
Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu, 
in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. 


Glory be to God on high 
[inclining his head], and on 
earth peace to men of good 
will. We praise Thee; we 
bless —Thee; we adore Thee 
[inclining his head|; we 
glorify Thee. We give Thee 
thanks [inclining his head| 
for Thy great glory, O Lord 
God, heavenly King, God the 
Father almighty: O Lord 
Jesus Christ [inclining his 
head |, the only-begotten Son: 
O Lord God, Lamb of God, 
Son of the Father, who tak- 
est away the sins of the world, 
have mercy on us; Thou who 
takest away the sins of the 
world, receive our prayers [ in- 
clining his head\: ‘Thou who 
sittest at the right hand of the 
Father, have mercy on us. 
For Thou only art holy: . 
Thou only art Lord: Thou 
only, O Jesus Christ [inclin- 
ing his head|\, with the Holy 
Ghost [signing himself with 
the sign of the cross], art 
most high in the glory of God 
the Father. Amen. 


The priest kisses the altar, and, turning to the people, says: 


V. Dominus vobiscum. 
R. Et cum spiritu tuo. 


P. The Lord be with you. 
R. And with thy spirit. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


315, 


He then says Oremus, and reads the Collect or Collects 
of the day or feast, the Epistle, Gradual, Tract (or Alleluia) 
with Verse, and Sequence (if one is OrAtribed for the feast). 


Oratio. 


Deus, qui hodierna die per 
Unigenitum tuum, eternitatis 
nobis aditum, devicta morte, 
reserasti: vota nostra, que 
praveniendo aspiras, etiam ad- 
juvando prosequere. Per eum- 
dem Dominum nostrum, etc. 


Lectio Epistole beati Pauli 
A postoli ad Corinthios, I, c. 5. 


Fratres, Expurgate vetus 
fermentum, ut sitis nova con- 
spersio, sicut estis azymi. 
Etenim Pascha nostrum im- 
molatus est Christus. Itaque 
epulemur, non in fermento 
veteri, meque in fermento 
malitiz et nequitiz: sed in 
azymis sinceritatis et veritatis. 


R. Deo gratias. 


Graduale. Ps. 117. 


Hec dies quam fecit Domi- 
nus: exsultemus, et lete- 
mur in ea. V. Confitemini 
Domino, quoniam bonus: quo- 
niam in szeculum misericordia 
ejus. Alleluia, alleluia. JV. 
Pascha nostrum immolatus est 
Christus. 


Collect. 


OQ God, who through 
Thine only-begotten Son didst 
on this day overcome death 
and open unto us the gates 
of everlasting life: to our 
good resolutions which Thou 
didst anticipate with Thy 
holy inspirations, grant fur- 
therance also by Thy gracious 
aid. “Through the same, etc. 

Lesson from the Epistle of 
St. Paul the Apostle to the 
Corinthians, I, c. 5. 

Brethren: Purge out the 
old leaven, that you may be 
a new paste, as you are un- 
leavened: for Christ our 
Pasch is sacrificed. There- 
fore let us feast, not with the 
old leaven, nor with the 
leaven of malice and wicked- 
ness, but with the unleavened 
bread of sincerity and truth. 


R. Thanks be to God. 


Gradual. Ps. 117. 


This is the day which the 
Lord hath made: let us be 
glad and rejoice therein. V. 
Give praise to the Lord, for 
He is good: for His mercy 
endureth for ever. Alleluia, 
alleluia. V. Christ our Pasch 


is immolated. 


316 


Sequentia. 


Victimze paschali laudes im- 
molent Christiani. 


Agnus redemit oves: Chris- 
tus innocens Patri reconcilia- 
vit peccatores. 


Mors et vita duello con- 
flixere mirando: dux vite 
mortuus, regnat vivus. 


Dic nobis, Maria, quid vi- 
disti in via? 


Sepulchrum Christi viven- 
tis: et gloriam vidi resurgen- 
tis: 


Angelicos testes, sudarium 
et vestes. 


Surrexit Christus spes mea: 
preecedet vos in Galilzam. 


Scimus Christum surrexisse 
a mortuis vere: tu nobis, vic- 
tor Rex, miserere. Amen. 
Alleluia. 


APPENDIX 


Sequence. 


Let Christian men their voices 
raise 

And sing the Paschal Victim’s 
praise 

This solemn festival to keep. 

Christ, innocent and unde- 
filed, 

Sinners to God hath recon- 
Ciled sia) i" 

The Lamb redeemed the 
Father’s sheep. 

In this great triumph death 
and life 

Together met in wondrous 
strife, 

The Prince of Life, once 
dead, doth reign. 

Say what thou sawest, Mary, 
say, 

Upon thy road at break of 
day? 

“Christ’s glory as He rose 
again. 

“I saw the tomb where He 
did lie, 

‘‘And angel witnesses hard by, 

“The winding cloths were 
there to see. 

“Christ, my hope, is risen, 
and He 

“Awaiteth you in Galilee.” 

We know that Christ is risen 
indeed, 

And, Victor King, 
Thee plead, 

Have pity, Lord, and clem- 
ency. Amen. Alleluia. 


before 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


317 


Bowing before the middle of the altar and with hands joined, 
the priest says: 


Munda cor meum ac labia 
mea, omnipotens Deus, qui 
labia Isaiz Prophete calculo 
mundasti ignito: ita me tua 
grata miseratione  dignare 
mundare, ut sanctum Evange- 
lium tuum digne valeam nun- 
tiare. Per Christum Domi- 
num nostrum. Amen. 


Jube Domine benedicere. 
Dominus sit in corde meo et 
in labiis meis, ut digne 
et competenter annuntiem 
Evangelium suum. Amen. 


Cleanse my heart and my 
lips, O Almighty God, who 
didst cleanse the lips of the 
prophet Isaias with a burning 
coal: and vouchsafe, through 
Thy gracious mercy, so to 
purify me, that I may worth- 
ily proclaim Thy holy Gos- 
pel. Through Christ our 
Lord. Amen. 

Send down Thy blessing, 
O Lord. The Lord be in 
my heart and on my lips, that 
I may worthily, and in a 
becoming manner, announce 


His holy Gospel. Amen. 


Then, proceeding to the missal, he says with joined hands: 


V. Dominus vobiscum. 
R. Et cum spiritu tuo. 


P. The Lord be with you. 
R. And with thy spirit. 


While making the sign of the cross with his right thumb on 
the missal, then on his forehead, mouth and breast, he con- 
tinues: 


V. Sequentia sancti Evan- 
gelii secundum Marcum. 


R. Gloria tibi, Domine. 


P. The continuation of the 
holy Gospel according to St. 
Mark. 

R. Glory be to Thee, O 
Lord. 


With joined hands, the priest then reads the Gospel. 


In illo tempore: Maria 
Magdalene, et Maria Jacobi, 
et Salome, emerunt aromata, 


At that time: Mary Mag- 
dalen, and Mary the mother 
of James, and Salome bought 


318 


ut venientes ungerent Jesum. 
Et valde mane una_ sabba- 
torum, veniunt ad monumen- 
tum, orto jam sole. Et dice- 
bant ad invicem: Quis revol- 
vet nobis lapidem ab ostio 
monumenti? Et respicientes 
viderunt revolutum lapidem. 
Erat quippe magnus valde. 
Et introeuntes in monumen- 
tum, viderunt juvenem seden- 
tem in dextris coopertum stola 
candida, et obstupuerunt. Qui 
dicit illis: Nolite expavescere: 
Jesum queritis Nazarenum 
crucifixum: surrexit, non est 
hic; ecce locus ubi posuerunt 
eum. Sed ite, dicite discipulis 
ejus, et Petro, quia precedit 
vos in Galileam: ibi eum 
videbitis, sicut dixit vobis. 


R. Laus tibi, Christe. 


APPENDIX 


sweet spices, that, coming, 
they might anoint Jesus. And 
very early in the morning, 
the first day of the week, they 
come to the sepulchre, the sun 
being now risen: and they 
said one to another: Who 
shall roll us back the stone 
from the door of the sepul- 
chre? And looking, they saw 
the stone rolled back, for it 
Was very great. And enter- 
ing into the sepulchre, they 
saw a young man sitting on 
the right side, clothed with a 
white robe, and they were as- 
tonished; who saith to them: 
Be not affrighted; you seek 
Jesus of Nazareth, who was 
crucified: He is risen, He is 
not here; behold the place 
where they laid Him. But go, 
tell His disciples and Peter, 
that He goeth before you inte 
Galilee: there you shall see 
Him, as He told you. 

R. Praise be to Thee, O 
Christ. 


The priest then kisses the missal, saying: 


Per evangelica dicta de- 
leantur nostra delicta. 


May our sins be blotted 
out by the words of the Gos- 
pel. 


Now (or at the end of the homily or sermon) standing at 
the middle of the altar, he extends, raises and then rejoins 
his hands, and begins the Credo. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


319 


The Nicene Creed. 


Credo in unum Deum, Pa- 
trem omnipotentem, Factorem 
ceeli et terrae, visibilium om- 
nium et invisibilium. 


Et in unum Dominum Je- 
sum Christum, Filium Dei 
unigenitum, et ex Patre na- 
tum ante omniasecula. Deum 
de Deo; Lumen de Lumine; 
Deum verum de Deo vero; 
genitum non factum; consub- 
stantialem Patri, per quem 
omnia facta sunt. Qui prop- 
ter nos homines, et propter 
nostram salutem, descendit 
de ccelis; et incarnatus est de 
Spiritu Sancto, ex Maria Vir- 
gine: ET HOMO FACTUS EST. 
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: 
sub Pontio Pilato passus, et 
sepultus est. Et resurrexit 
tertia die secundum Scrip- 
turas; et ascendit in coelum, 
sedet ad dexteram Patris: et 
iterum venturus est cum 
gloria judicare vivos et mor- 
tuos: cujus regni non erit 
finis. 


Et in Spiritum Sanctum 
Dominum et vivificantem, qui 
ex Patre Filioque procedit: 


I believe in one God [in- 
clining his head], the Father 
almighty, Maker of heaven 
and earth, and of all things 
visible and invisible. 

And in one Lord Jesus 
Christ [inclining his head], 
the only-begotten Son of God, 
born of the Father before all 
ages. God of God; Light of 
Light; true God of true God; 
begotten not made; consub- 
stantial with the Father, by 
whom all things were made. 
Who for us men, and for our 
salvation, came down from 
heaven; [here the priest and 
people genuflect| and was in- 
carnate by the Holy Ghost of 
the Virgin Mary: AND was 
MADE MAN. [Standing erect 
again, he continues.| He was 
crucified also for us, suffered 
under Pontius Pilate, and was 
buried. The third day He 
rose again according to the 
Scriptures; and ascended into 
heaven, and sitteth at the 
right hand of the Father: and 
He shall come again with 
glory to judge both the living 
and the dead: of whose king- 
dom there shall be no end. 

And I believe in the Holy 
Ghost, the Lord and Life- 


giver, who proceedeth from 


320 


qui cum Patre et Filio simul 
adoratur et conglorificatur: 
qui locutus est per prophetas. 
Et unam sanctam Catholicam 
et Apostolicam LEcclesiam. 
Confiteor unum baptisma in 
remissionem peccatorum. Et 
expecto resurrectionem mor- 
tuorum, et vitam venturi 
seculi. Amen. 


Kissing the altar and turning 


APPENDIX 


the Father and the Son: who 
together with the Father and 
the Son is adored [inclining 
his head| and glorified: who 
spoke by the prophets. And 
one holy Catholic and Apos- 
tolic Church. I confess one 
baptism for the remission of 
sins. And I look for the res- 
urrection of the dead, and 
[making on himself the sign 
of the cross] the life of the 
world to come. Amen. 


towards the people, the priest 


Says: 


V. Dominus vobiscum. 
R. Et cum spiritu tuo. 


P. The Lord be with you. 
R. And with thy spirit. 


Turning again towards the altar, he says Oremus and reads 
the Offertory: 


Offertorium. Ps. 75. 


Terra tremuit et quievit; 
dum resurgeret in  judicio 


Deus, Alleluia. 


Offertory. Ps. 75. 
The earth trembled and 
was still, when God arose in 
judgment. Alleluia. 


Taking the paten with the host, the priest offers it to God, 
saying: 


Suscipe, sancte Pater, om- 
nipotens, zterne Deus, hanc 
immaculatam hostiam, quam 
ego indignus famulus_ tuus 
offero tibi, Deo meo vivo et 
vero, pro innumerabilibus pec- 
catis, et offensionibus, et neg- 
ligentiis meis, et pro omnibus 


Accept, O holy Father, al- 
mighty, eternal God, this im- 
maculate host, which I, Thy 
unworthy servant, offer unto 
Thee, my living and true 
God, for my innumerable sins, 
offences, and negligences, and 
for all here present; as also 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


circumstantibus; sed et pro 
omnibus fidelibus Christianis, 
vivis atque defunctis; ut mihi 
et illis proficiat ad salutem in 
vitam zternam. Amen. 


321 


for all faithful Christians, 
both living and dead, that it 
may avail me and them for 
salvation unto life eternal. 
Amen. 


After making the sign of the cross with the paten, the priest 
lets the host glide from the paten to the purificator, and 


partly conceals the paten under the purificator. 


He then 


pours wine and water into the chalice, first blessing the water, 


as he 


Deus, qui humane substan- 
tie dignitatem mirabiliter con- 
didisti, et miurabilius refor- 
masti; da nobis per hujus 
aquz et vini mysterium, ejus 
divinitatis esse consortes, qui 
humanitatis nostre fieri dig- 
natus est particeps, Jesus 
Christus, Filius tuus, Domi- 
nus noster: qui tecum vivit 
et regnat in unitate Spiritus 
Sancti Deus, per omnia seecula 
seculorum. Amen. 


says: 


O God, who, in creating 
human nature, didst wonder- 
fully dignify it, and hast still 
more wonderfully reformed 
it; grant that, by the mys- 
tery of this water and wine, 
we may be made partakers of 
His divinity who vouchsafed 
to become partaker of our 
humanity, Jesus Christ, Thy 
Son, our Lord; who liveth 
and reigneth with Thee in 
the unity of the Holy Ghost, 
would without end. Amen. 


Taking the chalice, he offers it up, saying: 


Offerimus tibi, Domine, 
calicem salutaris, tuam de- 
precantes clementiam, ut in 
conspectu Divine Meajestatis 
tuz, pro nostra et totius 
mundi salute cum odore sua- 
vitatis ascendat. Amen. 


We offer unto Thee, O 
Lord, the chalice of salva- 
tion, beseeching Thy clem- 
ency that it may ascend be- 
fore the face of Thy Divine 
Majesty, as an odor of sweet- 
ness, for our salvation and for 
that of the whole world. 
Amen. 


322 


APPENDIX 


After making a sign of the cross with the chalice, he places 


it on the altar and covers it. 


Then, bowing before the altar 


with joined hands, he says: 


In spiritu humilitatis, et in 
animo contrito, suscipiamur a 
te, Domine, et sic fiat sacrifi- 
cium nostrum in  conspectu 
tuo hodie, ut placeat tibi, Do- 
mine Deus. 


In the spirit of humility, 
and with a contrite heart, 
may we be accepted by Thee, 
O Lord; and grant that the 
sacrifice we offer this day in 
Thy sight may be pleasing to 
Thee, O Lord God. 


Standing erect, elevating his eyes, and stretching out and then 
rejoining his hands, he continues: 


Veni, sanctificator, omnipo- 
tens zterne Deus, et bene BK 
dic hoc sacrificium, tuo sancto 
nomini preparatum. 


Come, O  Sanctifier, al- 
mighty, eternal God, and 
bless }¥ this sacrifice [making 
a sign of the cross over the 
chalice and host|, prepared to 
Thy holy Name. 


Washing his fingers at the Epistle side of the altar, he recites 
the following: 


Lavabo inter  innocentes 
manus meas: et circumdabo 
altare tuum, Domine. 

Ut audiam vocem laudis: 
et enarrem universa mirabilia 
tua. 

Domine, dilexi decorem do- 
mus tuz, et locum habitationis 
gloriz tue. 


Ne perdas cum _ impiis, 
Deus, animam meam: et cum 
viris sanguinum vitam meam. 

In quorum manibus iniqui- 
tates sunt: dextera eorum re- 
pleta est muneribus. 


I will wash my _ hands 
among the innocent: and will 
encompass [hy altar, O Lord. 

‘That I may hear the voice 
of Thy praise, and tell of all 
Thy marvellous works. 

I have loved, O Lord, the 
beauty of Thy house, and the 
place where Thy glory dwell- 
eth. 

Take not away my soul, O 
God, with the wicked, nor 
my life with bloody men. 

In whose hands are iniqui- 
ties; their right hand is filled 
with gifts. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


Ego autem in innocentia 
mea ingressus sum: redime 
me, et miserere mei. 

Pes meus stetit in directo: 
in ecclesiis benedicam te, Do- 
mine. 

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et 
Spiritui Sancto. 


Sicut erat, etc. 


323. 


As for me, I have walked 
in my innocence: redeem 
me, and have mercy upon me. 

My foot hath stood in the 
right path: in the churches 
I will bless Thee, O Lord. 

Glory be to the Father, to 
the Son and to the Holy 
Ghost. 

As it was, etc. 


Bowing before the middle of the altar with joined hands, 
he says: 


Suscipe, sancta ‘Trinitas, 
hanc oblationem quam tibi 
offerimus ob memoriam Pas- 
sionis, Resurrectionis, et As- 
censionis Jesu Christi Domini 
nostri: et in honorem beate 
Marie semper Virginis, et 
beat: Joannis Baptiste, et 
sanctorum Apostolorum Petri 
et Pauli, et istorum et om- 
nium sanctorum: ut illis 
proficiat ad honorem, nobis 
autem ad salutem: et illi pro 
nobis intercedere dignentur in 
ceelis, quorum memoriam agi- 
mus in terris. Per eumdem 
Christum Dominum nostrum. 
Amen. 


Kissing the altar and turning 


Receive, O Holy Trinity, 
this oblation which we make 
to Thee in memory of the 
Passion, Resurrection, and 
Ascension of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and in honor of the 
blessed Mary ever Virgin, of 
blessed John the Baptist, of 
the holy Apostles Peter and 
Paul, and of these and of all 
the saints: that it may be 
available to their honor and 
our salvation: and may they 
vouchsafe to intercede for us 
in heaven, whose memory we 
celebrate on earth. Through 
the same Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 


to the people, he extends and 


joins his hands, saying: 

Orate, fratres, ut meum Brethren, pray that my sac- 
ac vestrum sacrificium accep- rifice and yours may be ac- 
tabile fiat apud Deum Patrem ceptable to God the Father 
omnipotentem. Almighty. 


324 


R. Suscipiat Dominus sac- 
rificlum de manibus tuis, ad 
laudem et gloriam nominis 
sul, ad utilitatem quoque nos- 
tram, totiusque Ecclesie sue 
sanctz. 


Adding Amen in a low voice, 
now reads 


Secreta. 

Suscipe, quesumus Domine, 
preces populi tui cum obla- 
tionibus hostiarum: ut Pas- 
chalibus initiata mysterlis, ad 
zternitatis nobis medelam, te 
operante, _ proficiant. Per 
Dominum. 


APPENDIX 


R. May the Lord receive 
the sacrifice from thy hands, 
to the praise and glory of His 
name, to our benefit, and to 


that of all His holy Church. 


the priest with extended hands 
the Secret: 


Secret. 

Receive, we beseech thee, 
O Lord, the prayers and sac- 
rifices of Thy people: and 
grant that what we have be- 
gun at these Paschal mys- 
teries may by ‘Thy power 
avail us as a healing remedy 
unto everlasting life. Through 
our Lord. 


On reaching the end of the Secret, the priest rests his hands 
on the altar (one on each side of the purificator), and says 
in an audible voice: 


V. Per omnia seecula szcu- 
lorum. 
. Amen. 
. Dominus vobiscum. 
. Et cum spiritu tuo. 
. Sursum corda. 


Habemus ad Dominum. 


N RP NPN 


Gratias agamus Domino 
nostro. 


R. Dignum et justum est. 


P. World without end. 


R. Amen. 

P. The Lord be with you. 

R. And with thy spirit. 

P. Lift up your hearts 
[raising his hands a little]. 

R. We have lifted them up 
unto the Lord. 

P. Let us give thanks to 
the Lord our God [mean- 
while joining his hands and 
bowing his head}. 

R. It is meet and just. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


325 


Extending his hands, he says: 


Vere dignum et justum est, 
zquum et salutare, Te qui- 
dem, Domine, omni tempore, 
sed in hac potissimum die, 
gloriosius predicare, cum 
Pascha nostrum immolatus est 
Christus. Ipse enim verus est 
Agnus qui abstulit peccata 
mundi. Qui mortem nostram 
moriendo destruxit, et vitam 
resurgendo reparavit. Et ideo 
cum Angelis et Archangelis, 
cum Thronis et Dominationi- 
bus, cumque omni militia 
ceelestis exercitus, hymnum 
gloriz tuz canimus, sine fine 
dicentes; 


Joining his hands, he bows while reciting the Sanctus. 


It is truly meet and just, 
right and salutary, that we 
should proclaim Thy glory 
incessantly, but most espe- 
cially in this day when Christ 
our Pasch was immolated. 
For He is the true lamb that 
hath taken away the sins of 
the world; who by dying hath 
overcome our death, and by 
rising again hath restored our 
life. And therefore with the 
angels and archangels, the 
thrones and dominions, and 
the whole host of the heavenly 
army we sing a hymn to Thy 
glory, saying again and again: 


At 


the word Benedictus he stands erect, and makes on himself 
the sign of the cross. 


Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, 
Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni 
sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. 
Hosanna in excelsis. Benedic- 
tus qui venit in nomine Do- 
mini. Hosanna in excelsis. 


Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord 
God of Sabaoth. Heaven and 
earth are full of Thy glory. 
Hosanna in the _ highest. 
Blessed is He that cometh in 
the name of the Lord. Hos- 
anna is the highest, 


326 


APPENDIX 


THE CANON OF THE MAsS 


Extending and raising his hands, the priest also raises his 


eyes to heaven. 


Immediately rejoining his hands and lower- 


ing his eyes, he bows profoundly before the altar, and, resting 
his hands on the edge of the table, says: 


Te igitur clementissime Pa- 
ter, per Jesum Christum Fi- 
lium tuum Dominum nostrum, 
supplices rogamus ac petimus 
uti accepta habeas et benedicas 
hac BX dona, hec 5 munera, 


hec §K sancta sacrificia illi- 


bata, in primis, quz tibi of- 
ferimus, pro Ecclesia tua 
sancta Catholica: quam pa- 
cificare, custodire, adunare, et 
regere digneris toto orbe ter- 
rarum, una cum famulo tuo 
Papa nostro N., et Antistite 
nostro N., et omnibus ortho- 
doxis, atque Catholice et 
Apostolicae Fidei cultoribus. 


Wherefore, we humbly 
pray and beseech ‘Thee, 
most merciful Father, through 
Jesus Christ Thy Son, our 
Lord [he kisses the altar], 
that Thou wouldst vouchsafe 
to accept and bless [| first join- 
ing his hands together and 
then making three signs of 
the cross over the host and 
chalice| these ¥M gifts, these 
Bd presents, these 3 holy un- 
spotted sacrifices which, in 
the first place, we _ offer 
Thee for Thy holy Catholic 
Church, to which vouchsafe 
to grant peace, as also to pro- 
tect, unite, and govern it 
throughout the world, to- 
gether with Thy servant N., 
our Pope, N., our Bishop, as 
also all orthodox believers 
and professors of the Catholic 
and Apostolic Faith. 


Memento of the Living. 


Memento, Domine, famu- 
lorum famularumque tuarum, 
N. et N. Et omnium circum- 


Be mindful, O Lord, of 


Thy servants and handmaids, 
N. and N. [He pauses, joins 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


stantium, quorum tibi fides 
cognita est, et nota devotio; 
pro quibus tibi offerimus, vel 
qui tibi offerunt hoc sacrifi- 
cium laudis, pro se, suisque 
omnibus, pro  redemptione 
animarum suarum, pro spe 
salutis et incolumitatis sux: 
tibique reddunt vota_ sua, 
zterno Deo, vivo et vero. 


Infra actionem. 


Communicantes, et diem 
sacratissimum celebrantes Re- 
surrectionis Domini nostri 
Jesu. Christi secundum car- 
nem: sed et memoriam vene- 
rantes, in primis gloriose 
semper Virginis Marie, geni- 
tricis ejusdem Dei et Domini 
nostri Jesu Christi: sed et 
beatorum Apostolorum ac 
Martyrum tuorum, Petri et 
Pauli, Andree, Jacobi, Joan- 
nis, Thome, Jacobi, Philippi, 
Bartholomei, Matthezi, Si- 
monis et ‘Thaddexi:  Lini, 
Cleti, Clementis, Xysti, Cor- 
nelii, Cypriani, Laurentii, 
Chrysogoni, Joannis et Pauli, 
Cosme et Damiani, et om- 
nium  sanctorum  tuorum: 
quorum meritis precibusque 


327 


his hands, prays silently for 
those he intends to pray for, 
and then proceeds with ex- 
tended hands |. And of all here 
present, whose faith and de- 
votion are known unto Thee; 
for whom we offer, or who 
offer up to Thee, this sacri- 
fice of praise for themselves, 
their families and friends, for 
the redemption of their souls, 
for the hope of their safety 
and salvation, and who pay 
their vows to Thee, the eter- 
nal, living, and true God. 


Within the action. 


Communicating, and cele- 
brating the most holy day of 
the resurrection of our Lord 
Jesus Christ according to the 
flesh; and also venerating the 
memory, first, of the glorious 
Mary ever a virgin, Mother 
of the same our God and 
Lord Jesus Christ; likewise 
of Thy blessed apostles and 
martyrs, Peter and Paul, An- 
drew, James, John, Thomas, 
James, Philip, Bartholomew, 
Matthew, Simon and Thad- 
deus; of Linus, Cletus, Cle- 
ment, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyp- 
rian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, 
John and Paul, Cosmas and 
Damian, and of all Thy 
saints; for the sake of their 
merits and prayers grant that 


328 


concedas, ut in omnibus pro- 
tectionis tuz muniamur aux- 
ilio. Per eumdem Christum 
Dominum nostrum. Amen. 


APPENDIX 


we may in all things be 
guarded by the help of Thy 
protection. [Joining his 
hands together.| Through 
the same Christ our Lord. 


Amen. 


Spreading his hands over the offerings, he says: 


Hanc igitur oblationem ser- 
vitutis nostra, sed et cuncte 
familiz tuz, quam tibi offeri- 
mus pro his quoque, quos re- 
generare dignatus es ex aqua, 
et Spiritu Sancto, tribuens eis 
remissionem omnium_ pecca- 
torum, quesumus, Domine, ut 
placatus accipias; diesque nos- 
tros in tua pace disponas, at- 
que ab eterna damnatione nos 
eripi, et in electorum tuorum 
jubeas grege numerari. Per 
Christum Dominum nostrum. 
Amen. 


Quam oblationem tu Deus 
in omnibus, quzsumus, bene- 
bi dictam, adscri } ptam, ra- 
4 tam, rationabilem accepta- 


bilemque facere cigneris; ut 
nobis Cor 3% pus et San &% 


We, therefore, beseech 
Thee, O Lord, graciously to 
accept this oblation of servi- 
tude of ourselves and ‘Thy 
whole family, which we make 
unto Thee on behalf of these 
too whom Thou hast vouch- 
safed to bring to a new birth 
by water and the Holy Ghost, 
giving them remission of all 
their sins; dispose our days in 
Thy peace, command us to be 
delivered from eternal dam- 
nation and to be numbered 
in the flock of Thy elect. 
[Joining his hands together. | 
Through Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

Which oblation do Thou, 
O God, vouchsafe in all 
things to make & blessed, 
ap w proved, rati & fied 
[making the sign of the cross 
thrice over the offerings |, rea- 
sonable, and acceptable, that 
it may become for us the 
Bo 3% dy and Blood & [maé- 
ing a sign of the cross first 
over the host and then over 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


guis fiat dilectissimi Filii tui 
Domini nostri Jesu Christi. 


Qui pridie quam pateretur, 
accepit panem in sanctas ac 
venerabiles manus suas, et ele- 
vatis oculis in ccelum, ad te 
Deum Patrem suum omnipo- 
tentem: tibi gratias agens, 
bene 3X dixit, fregit deditque 
discipulis suis, dicens: Accipite, 
et manducate ex hoc omnes. 
HOC EST ENIM CORPUS 
MEUM. 


329 


the chalice] of Thy most be- 
loved Son, Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 

Who the day before He 
suffered took bread [he takes 
the host) into His holy and 
venerable hands and_ [he 
raises his eyes to heaven] with 
eyes lifted up towards heaven, 
unto Thee, God, His Al- 
mighty Father, giving thanks 
to Thee, blessed % [making 
a sign of the cross over the 
host], broke, and gave to His 
disciples, saying: Take, and 
eat ye all of this. [Holding 
the host between the thumbs 
and first fingers of both hands, 
he continues:| FOR THIS IS 
MY BODY, 


After pronouncing the words of consecration, the priest 

genuflects in adoration, and then elevates the Sacred Host 

so that it may be seen by the people, and genuflects again. At 
the Elevation the dell is rung thrice. 


Simili modo postquam cce- 
natum est, accipiens et hunc 
preclarum calicem in sanctas 
ac venerabiles manus suas, 
item tibi gratias agens, bene- 
bq dixit, deditque discipulis 
suis, dicens: Accipite et bi- 
bite ex eo omnes. HIC EST 
ENIM CALIX SANGUINIS MEI 
NOVI ET /ETERNI TESTA- 
MENTI; MYSTERIUM  FIDET; 
QUI PRO VOBIS ET PRO MUL- 


In like manner, after He 
had supped [he takes the 
chalice in both hands|, taking 
also this glorious chalice into 
His holy and venerable hands, 
and again giving thanks to 
Thee, He blessed %& [holding 
the chalice with his left hand, 
he makes the sign of the cross 
over it with his right| and 
gave to His disciples, saying: 
Take, and drink ye all of this. 


330 


TIS EFFUNDETUR IN REMIS- 
SIONEM PECCATORUM. 


Hec quotiescumque feceri- 
tis, in mei memoriam facietis. 


APPENDIX 


[Raising the chalice a litile 
from the altar-table, he con- 
tinues:| FOR THIS IS THE 
CHALICE OF MY BLOOD OF 
THE NEW AND ETERNAL TES- 
TAMENT; THE MYSTERY OF 
FAITH; WHICH SHALL BE 
SHED FOR YOU, AND FOR 
MANY, TO THE REMISSION OF 
sins. [Replacing the chalice 
on the altar, he says: | 

As often as ye shall do 
these things, ye shall do them 
in remembrance of Me, 


Genuflecting, he adores, and rising elevates the chalice. After 
a second genuflection, he continues with extended hands: 


Unde et memores, Domine, 
nos servi tui, sed et plebs tua 
sancta, ejusdem Christi Fili 
tui Domini nostri tam beatz 
passionis, necnon et ab inferis 
resurrectionis, sed et in ccelos 
gloriose ascensionis: offeri- 
mus preclare Majestati tue, 
de tuis donis ac datis, Hos- 
tiam BM puram, Hostiam pK 
sanctam, Hostiam BK imma- 
culatam, Panem b& sanctum 
vite zterne, et calicem 3K 
salutis perpetuz. 


Wherefore, O Lord, we 
Thy servants, as also Thy 
holy people, calling to mind 
the blessed passion of the 
same Christ Thy Son our 
Lord, His resurrection from 
hell, and glorious ascension 
into heaven, offer unto Thy 
glorious Majesty, of ‘Thy 
gifts and grants [he joins his 
hands and makes three signs 
of the cross over the Host and 
chalice] a pure 3 Host, a 
holy 3% Host, an immaculate 
M4 Host [and then a sign of 
the cross, first over the Host 
and then over the chalice], 
the holy }& Bread of eternal 
life, and the chalice of 
everlasting salvation. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


331 


Extending his hands, he continues: 


Supra que ppropitio ac 
sereno vultu_ respicere dig- 
neris, et accepta habere sicuti 
accepta habere dignatus es 
munera pueri tui justi Abel, 
et sacrificium Patriarche nos- 
tri Abrahe; et quod tibi ob- 
tulit summus sacerdos tuus 
Melchisedech, sanctum sac- 
rificium, immaculatam hos- 
tiam. 


Upon which vouchsafe to 
look with a propitious and 
serene countenance, and to 
accept them, as Thou wert 
graciously pleased to accept 
the gifts of Thy just servant 
Abel, and the sacrifice of our 
Patriarch Abraham, and that 
which Thy high-priest Mel- 
chisedech offered to Thee, a 
holy sacrifice, an immaculate 
host. 


Bowing down and resting his joined hands on the altar, he 
Says: 


Supplices te rogamus, om- 
nipotens Deus, jube hec per- 
ferri per manus sancti angeli 
tui in sublime altare tuum, in 
conspectu divine Majestatis 
tuz, ut quotquot ex hac al- 
taris participatione, sacrosanc- 
tum Filii tui Cor }& pus et 
San }¥ guinem sumpserimus, 
omni benedictione ccelesti et 
gratia repleamur. Per eum- 
dem Christum Dominum nos- 
trum. Amen. 


We most humbly beseech 
Thee, Almighty God, com- 
mand these things to be cars 
ried by the hands of Thy holy 
angel to Thy altar on high, 
in the sight of Thy Divine 
Majesty, that as many of us 
as, [he kisses the altar| by 
participation at this altar, 
shall receive the most sacred 
[joining his hands, he makes a 
sign of the cross over the Host 
and then the chalice| Body 
band Blood ¥& of Thy Son, 
may be filled with [he makes 
the sign of the cross on him- 
self| every heavenly benedic- 
tion and grace. [He joins his 
hands.| ‘Through the same 
Christ, etc. Amen. 


332 APPENDIX 


Memento of the Dead. 


Memento etiam, Domine, Be mindful, O Lord, of 
famulorum famularumque ‘Thy servants and handmaids, 
tuarum N. et N., qui nos N. and N., who are gone be- 
precesserunt cum signo fidei, fore us, with the sign of faith, 
et dormiunt in somno pacis. | and rest in the sleep of peace. 


Joining his hands, he prays for such of the dead as he intends 
to pray for. Then extending his hands, he continues: 


Ipsis, Domine, et omnibus To these, O Lord, and to 
in Christo quiescentibus, lo- all that rest in Christ, grant, 
cum refrigerii, lucis et pacis, we beseech Thee, a place of 
ut indulgeas, deprecamur. refreshment, light, and peace. 
Per eumdem Christum, etc. [He joins his hands, and 
Amen. bows his head.| Through 

the same Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 


Here, striking his breast and slightly raising his voice, he 
says: 


Nobis quoque peccatoribus And to us sinners, Thy 
famulis tuis, de multitudine servants, hoping in the multi- 
miserationum tuarum speran- tude of Thy mercies, vouch- 
tibus, partem aliquam et socie- safe to grant some part and 


tatem donare digneris, cum 
tuis sanctis apostolis et marty- 
ribus: cum Joanne, Stephano, 
Mathia, Barnaba, Ignatio, 
Alexandro, Marcellino, Petro, 
Felicitate, Perpetua, Agatha, 
Lucia, Agnete, Cecilia, Anas- 
tasia, et omnibus sanctis tuis: 
intra quorum nos consortium, 
non zstimator meriti, sed 
veniz, quesumus, largitor ad- 
mitte. Per Christum Domi- 
num nostrum. 


fellowship with Thy holy 
apostles and martyrs: with 
John, Stephen, Mathias, 
Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexan- 
der, Marcellinus, Peter, Feli- 
citas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, 
Agnes, Cecily, Anastasia, and 
with all Thy saints: into 
whose company we beseech 
Thee to admit us, not con- 
sidering our merit, but freely 
granting us pardon. [He 
joins his hands.| Through 
Christ our Lord. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 333 


Per quem hec omnia, Do- By whom, O Lord, Thou 
mine, semper bona creas, dost always create, } sanc- 
sancti )& ficas, vivi 0M ficas, tify, b& quicken, & bless 
bene & dicis, et prastas nobis. [making three signs of the 

cross over the Host and 
chalice|, and give us all these 
good things. 


Uncovering the chalice, he genuflects, takes the Host in his 

right hand and the chalice in his left, and makes three signs 

of the cross with the Host over the bowl of the chalice, 
saying: 


Per ip } sum, et cum ip- Through JK Him, and 


4 so, et in ip B& so, est tibi 
Deo Patri }{ omnipotenti, in 
unitate Spiritus 3% Sancti, 
omnis honor et gloria. 


with 3& Him, and in 
Him, is to Thee, [making 
two signs of the cross between 
the chalice and his breast | 
God the Father & Almighty, 
in the unity of the Holy 0% 
Ghost, [raising slightly the 
chalice and Host] all honor 
and glory. 


Replacing the Host and chalice on the altar, he covers the 
chalice, genuflects, and on rising says: 


V. Per omnia szcula szcu- 
lorum. 


R. Amen. 


P. For ever and ever. 


R. Amen. 


He joins his hands until he begins the Pater noster, which 
he recites with extended hands: 


Preceptis salutaribus mon- 
iti, et divina_ institutione 
formati, audemus dicere: 


Pater noster, qui es in 
ceelis, sanctificetur nomen 


Instructed by Thy saving 
precepts, and following Thy 
divine institution, we  pre- 
sume to Say: 

Our Father, who art in 
heaven, hallowed be Thy 


334 


tuum: adveniat regnum tuum; 
fiat voluntas tua sicut in ccelo, 
et in terra. Panem nostrum 
quotidianum da nobis hodie: 
et dimitte nobis debita nostra, 
sicut et nos dimittimus debi- 
toribus nostris. Et ne nos in- 
ducas in tentationem. 


M. Sed libera nos a malo. 


APPENDIX 


name; Thy kingdom come; 
Thy will be done on earth 
as it is in heaven. Give us 
this day our daily bread; and 
forgive us our trespasses, as 
we forgive them that trespass 
against us. And lead us not 
into temptation. 

R. But deliver us from 
evil. 


He then says in a low voice Amen, and, taking the paten 
between the first and middle fingers of his right hand, con- 
tinues: 


Libera nos, quzesumus, Do- 
mine, ab omnibus malis, pre- 
teritis, presentibus, et futuris: 
et intercedente beata et glo- 
riosa. semper Virgine Dei 
Genitrice Maria, cum beatis 
Apostolis tuis Petro et Paulo, 
atque Andrea, et omnibus 
Sanctis, da propitius pacem in 
diebus nostris: ut ope miseri- 
cordie tue adjuti, et a pec- 
cato simus semper liberi, et 
ab omni perturbatione securi. 


Deliver us, we_ beseech 
Thee, O. Lord, from all evils, 
past, present, and to come; 
and by the intercession of the 
blessed and glorious Virgin 
Mary, Mother of God, to- 
gether with Thy blessed 
Apostles Peter and Paul, and 
Andrew, and all the Saints 
[making the sign of the cross 
on himself with the paten, he 
kisses it, and says|, mercifully 
grant peace in our days: that 
by the assistance of Thy 
mercy we may be always free 
from sin, and secure from all 
disturbance, 


Inserting the paten under the Host, he uncovers the chalice, 
genuflects, rises, takes the Host, and, holding it over the 
chalice, breaks it in the middle, saying: 


Per eumdem Dominum nos- 


trum Jesum Christum Filium 
tuum. 


Through the same Jesus 
Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 335 


Placing on the paten the part of the Host which he holds. 
in his right hand, he breaks a particle off the part which he 
holds in his left, saying: 

Qui tecum vivit et regnat | Who liveth and reigneth 


in unitate Spiritus Sancti with Thee in the unity of the 
Deus. Holy Ghost, one God. 


Placing on the paten the part of the Host which he holds 
in his left hand, and holding the particle over the chalice 
with his right hand, he takes the chalice with his left, and 
Says: 
V. Per omnia secula secu- P. World without end. 
lorum. 


R. Amen. R. Amen. 


As he makes three signs of the cross with the particle over 
the chalice, he continues: 


V. Pax 0 Domini sit § P. May the peace & of 


semper vobis 4 cum. the Lord be 3% always with 
bh you. 
R. Et cum spiritu tuo. R. And with thy spirit. 


Placing the particle in the chalice, he says in a low voice: 


Hec commixtio et conse- May this mingling and 
cratio Corporis et Sanguinis consecration of the Body and 
Domini nostri Jesu Christi Blood of our Lord Jesus 
fiat accipientibus nobis in Christ be unto us that receive 
vitam zternam. Amen. them effectual to eternal life. 

Amen. 


He covers the chalice, genuflects, bows towards the Blessed 
Sacrament, and, striking his breast three times, says: 


Agnus Dei, qui tollis pec- | Lamb of God, who takest 
cata mundi, miserere nobis away the sins of the world, 
(twice). have mercy upon us (twice). 

Agnus Dei, qui tollis pec- | Lamb of God, who takest 
cata mundi, dona nobis pacem. away the sins of the world, 

grant us peace. 


336 


APPENDIX 


Bowing and resting his joined hands on the altar, he says 
the following prayers: 


Domine Jesu Christe, qui 
dixisti Apostolis tuis, Pacem 
relinquo vobis, pacem meam 
do vobis: ne respicias peccata 
mea, sed fidem Ecclesiz tue; 
eamque secundum voluntatem 
tuam pacificare et coadunare 
digneris: qui vivis et regnas 
Deus, per omnia secula szecu- 
Icrum. Amen. 


Domine Jesu Christe, Fili 
Dei vivi, qui ex voluntate Pa- 
tris, codperante Spiritu Sancto, 
per mortem tuam mundum 
vivificasti; libera me per hoc 
sacrosanctum Corpus et San- 
guinem tuum ab omnibus ini- 
quitatibus meis, et universis 
malis, et fac me tuis semper 
inherere mandatis, et a te 
numquam separari permittas: 
qui cum eodem Deo Patre et 
Spiritu Sancto vivis et regnas 
Deus in secula szculorum. 
Amen. 


Perceptio Corporis tui, Do- 
mine Jesu Christe, quod ego 
indignus sumere  przesumo, 
non mihi proveniat in judi- 
cium et condemnationem; sed 
pro tua pietate prosit mihi ad 
tutamentum mentis et cor- 


Lord Jesus Christ, who 
saidst to [Thy Apostles, 
“Peace I leave with you, My 
peace I give unto you,” re- 
gard not my sins, but the 
faith of Thy Church; and 
vouchsafe to it that peace and 
unity which is agreeable to 
Thy will; who livest and 
reignest God for ever and 
ever. Amen. 

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of 
the living God, who, accord- 
ing to the will of the Father, 
through the codperation of 
the Holy Ghost, hast by Thy 
death given life to the world, 
deliver me by this, Thy most 
sacred Body and Blood, from 
all my iniquities and from 
all evils; and make me al- 
ways adhere to Thy com- 
mandments, and never suffer 
me to be separated from 
Thee; who with the same 
God the Father and Holy 
Ghost livest and reignest God 
for ever and ever. Amen. 

Let not the reception of 
Thy Body, O Lord Jesus 
Christ, which I unworthy 
presume to receive, turn to 
my judgment and condemna- 
tion: but through Thy good- 
ness may it be to me a safe 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


poris, et ad medelam perci- 
piendam. Qui vivis et regnas 
cum Deo Patre, in unitate 


Spiritus Sancti, Deus per 
omnia szcula  szculorum. 
Amen. 


337 


guard and remedy, both of 
soul and body. Who with 
God the Father, in the unity 
of the Holy Ghost, livest and 
reignest God for ever and 
ever. Amen. 


Making a genuflection, the priest rises and says: 


Panem coelestem accipiam, 
et nomen Domini invocabo. 


I will take the Bread of 
heaven, and call upon the 
name of the Lord. 


Then taking the two parts of the Host between the thumb 

and first finger of his left hand, and holding the paten be- 

tween the first and middle fingers, he strikes his breast with 
the right, and, raising his voice a little, says three times: 


Domine, non sum dignus 
ut intres sub tectum meum; 
sed tantum dic verbo, et sana- 
bitur anima mea. 


Lord, I am not worthy 
that Thou shouldst enter 
under my roof; say but the 
word, and my soul shall be 


healed. 
Making the sign of the cross over himself with the Host, 
he says: 


May the Body of our Lord 


Corpus Domini nostri Jesu 


Christi custodiat animam Jesus Christ preserve my soul 
meam in vitam eternam. to life everlasting. Amen. 
Amen. 


He then reverently receives the Sacred Host, and, after a 

short pause for meditation, uncovers the chalice, genuflects, 

and gathers the fragments with the paten and wipes the lat- 
ter over the chalice, saying: 


Quid retribuam Domino What shall I render to 
pro omnibus que retribuit the Lord for all He hath 
mihi? Calicem salutaris ac- rendered unto me? I will 


cipiam, et nomen Domini in- take the chalice of salvation, 


338 APPENDIX 


vocabo. Laudans invocabo and call upon the name of 

Dominum, et ab inimicis meis the Lord. Praising I will call 

salvus ero. upon the Lord, and I shall 
be saved from my enemies. 


Taking the chalice in his right hand and with it making on 
himself the sign of the cross, he says: 


Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu. May the Blood of our 
Christi custodiat animam Lord Jesus Christ preserve 
meam in vitam eternam. my soul to everlasting life. 


Amen. Amen. 


Those who are to communicate go up to the Sanctuary at 
the Domine, non sum dignus, when the bell rings: the server 
spreads a cloth before them, and says the Confiteor. 


Then the priest, turning to the communicants, pronounces 
the Absolution. 


Misereatur vestri, etc. In- May Almighty God have 
dulgentiam, absolutionem, etc. mercy, etc. May the almighty 
and merciful Lord, etc. 


Elevating a particle of the Blessed Sacrament, and turning 
towards the people, he says: 


Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui Behold the Lamb of God, 
tollit peccata mundi. behold Him who taketh away 
the sins of the world. 


And then repeats three times, Domine, non sum dignus, etc. 


He then administers the Holy Communion, saying to each: 


Corpus Domini nostri Jesu May the body of our Lord 
% «Christi custodiat animam Jesus }& Christ [making the 
tuam in vitam eternam. sign of the cross with the 
Amen. Host| preserve thy soul to 

life everlasting. Amen. 


a 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


Having reverently received 


339 


the Sacred Blood with the 


particle, the priest takes the first ablution, saying: 


Quod ore sumpsimus, Do- 
mine, pura mente capiamus; 
et de munere temporali fiat 
nobis remedium sempiternum 


Taking the second ablution 


Corpus tuum, Domine, 
quod sumpsi, et Sanguis quem 
potavi, adhzreat  visceribus 


meis: et presta, ut in me non 
remaneat scelerum macula, 
quem pura et sancta refece- 
runt sacramenta. Qui vivis et 
regnas in sazcula saculorum. 
Amen. 


Grant, O Lord, that what 
we have taken with our 
mouth, we may receive with 
a pure mind; and of a tem- 
poral gift may it become to 
us an eternal remedy. 


of wine and water, he says: 


May Thy Body, O Lord, 
which I have received, and 
Thy Blood which I have 
drunk, cleave to my heart; 
and grant that no stain of sin 
may remain in me, who have 
been refreshed with pure and 
holy sacraments. Who livest, 
etc. Amen. 


He then wipes the chalice, covers it, and having folded the 
corporal, arranges the chalice as at the beginning of Mass. 
He then reads the Communion. 


Communio. 1 Cor. 5. 


Pascha nostrum immolatus 
est Christus, alleluia: itaque 
epulemur in azymis sincerita- 
tis et veritatis, Alleluia, alle- 
luia, alleluia. 


Communion. 1 Cor. 5. 


Christ our Pasch is immo- 
lated, alleluia: therefore let 
us feast with the unleavened 
bread of sincerity and truth. 
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. 


Then, kissing the altar, he turns towards the people and says: 


V. Dominus vobiscum, 
R. Et cum spiritu tuo. 


P. The Lord be with you. 
R. And with thy spirit. 


340 APPENDIX 


Returning to the missal, he reads the Postcommunion: 


Postcommunio. 
Spiritum nobis, Domine, 
tuz charitatis infunde: ut 
quos sacramentis Paschalibus 
satiasti, tua facias pietate con- 

cordes. Per Dominum. 


Postcommunion. 

Pour forth upon us, O 
Lord, the spirit of Thy 
charity: that those whom 
Thou hast fed with the 
Paschal sacraments thou may- 
est, by Thy loving-kindness, 
make of one mind. Through 
our Lord. 


Afterwards he turns again towards the people, and says: 


V. Dominus vobiscum. 

R. Et cum spiritu tuo. 

V. Ite, missa est, alleluia, 
alleluia. 

R. Deo gratias alleluia, al- 
leluia. 


P. The Lord be with you. 

R. And with thy spirit. 

P. Go, the Mass is ended, 
alleluia, alleluia. 

R. Thanks be to God, al- 
leluia, alleluia. 


Bowing down before the altar with joined hands, he says: 


Placeat tibi, sancta Trini- 
tas, obsequium _ servitutis 
mez; et presta ut sacrificium 
quod oculis tue Majestatis 
indignus obtuli, tibi sit ac- 
ceptabile, mihique, et omnibus 
pro quibus illud obtuli, sit, te 
miserante, propitiabile. Per 
Christum Dominum nostrum. 
Amen. 


O Holy Trinity, let the 
performance of my homage 
be pleasing to Thee; and 
grant that the sacrifice which 
I, unworthy, have offered up 
in the sight of ‘Thy Majesty, 
may be acceptable to Thee, 
and through Thy mercy be 
a propitiation for me, and all 
those for whom I have offered 
it. Through Christ our Lord. 


Amen. 


—_ a 


THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS 


340 


Then he kisses the altar, and, raising his eyes, extending, 
raising, and joining his hands, he bows his head to the 
crucifix, and says: 


Benedicat vos omnipotens 


Deus, 


May Almighty God, 


Turning towards the people, he makes the sign of the cross 
over them, saying: 


Pater, et Filius, 8% et Spiri- 
tus Sanctus. Amen. 


the Father, Son, §& and Holy 
Ghost, bless you. Amen. 


Then turning to the gospel side of the altar, he says: 


V. Dominus vobiscum. 
R. Et cum spiritu tuo. 


P, The Lord be with you. 
R. And with thy spirit. 


Making the sign of the cross, first on the altar table, and 
then on his forehead, mouth and breast, he continues: 


S. Initium sancti Evangelii 
secundum Joannem. 


M. Gloria tibi, Domine. 


In principio erat Verbum, 
et Verbum erat apud Deum; 
et Deus erat Verbum: hoc 
erat in principio apud Deum. 
Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, 
et sine ipso factum est nihil 
quod factum est: in ipso vita 
erat, et vita erat lux homi- 
num; et lux in tenebris lucet, 
et tenebre eam non compre- 
henderunt. 


Fuit homo missus a Deo, 
cui nomen erat Joannes. Hic 


P. The beginning of the 
holy Gospel according to St. 
John. 

R. Glory to be Thee, O 
Lord. 

In the beginning was the 
Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was 
God: the same was in the 
beginning with God. All 
things were made by Him, 
and without Him was made 
nothing that was made: in 
Him was life, and the life 
was the light of men; and the 
light shineth in darkness, and 
the darkness did not compre- 
hend it. 

There was a man sent from 
God, whose name was John. 


342 


venit in testimonium, ut testi- 
monium perhiberet de lumine, 
ut omnes crederent per illum. 
Non erat ille lux: sed ut tes- 
timonium perhiberet de lu- 
mine. Erat lux vera que 
illuminat omnem hominem ve- 
nientem in hunc mundum. 


In mundo erat, et mundus 
per ipsum factus est, et mun- 
dus eum non cognovit. In 
propria venit, et sui eum non 
receperunt. Quotquot autem 
receperunt eum, dedit eis po- 
testatem filios Dei fieri: his 
qui credunt in nomine ejus, 
qui non ex sanguinibus, neque 
ex voluntate carnis, neque ex 
voluntate viri, sed ex Deo 
nati sunt. Er VERBUM CARO 
FACTUM EST, et habitavit in 
nebis: et vidimus gloriam 
ejus, gloriam quasi Unigenit 
a Patre, plenum gratiz et 
veritatis, 


M. Deo gratias. 


APPENDIX 


This man came for a witness 
to give testimony of the light, 
that all men might believe 
through him. He was not 
the light, but came to give 
testimony of the light. ‘That 
was the true light, which en- 
lighteneth every man_ that 
cometh into this world. 

He was in the world, and 
the world was made by Him, 
and the world knew Him 
not. Hecame unto His own, 
and His own received Him 
not. But as many as re- 
ceived Him, to them He gave 
power to become the sons 
of God: to those that be- 
lieve in His name, who are 
born not of blood, nor of the 
will of the flesh, nor of the 
will of man, but of God. 
AND THE WORD WAS MADE 
FLESH [here all genuflect], 
and dwelt among us; and we 
saw His glory, as it were the 
glory of the Only-begotten of 
the Father, full of grace and 
truth. 

R. Thanks be to God. 


Descending to the foot of the altar, the priest now recites 
the prescribed prayers in the vernacular with the server and 


people. 


On their conclusion, 


he bows before the altar (or 


genuflects before the Blessed Sacrament) and follows the 


SEPVEr 120 


the sacristy, reciting the Antiphon “Trium 


puerorum.” 





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